A HAINAN airport has found itself in the spotlight for setting up a notice board warning passengers that tossing coins into airplane engines is “illegal,” after such incidents at airports have jeopardized public security and disrupted public order.

The notice board at Sanya Phoenix International Airport in South China’s Hainan Province reads in Chinese, “It is illegal to throw money into an airplane to pray for good luck.”

“Throwing coins into a plane’s engine is extremely dangerous to the airplane, and could cause an explosion,” a staff member from the airport told the Global Times on Monday, noting that they set up the notice board in hopes of stopping such dangerous behavior.

These activities will also cause flight delays and cancellations, passenger detentions at the airport and financial losses.

However, the airport is not defining such behavior as terrorism since passengers have done it spontaneously, he added.

Coin tossers have been frequently found in recent years.

The Beijing News reported 10 such cases in the first half of the year. Most of them were just tossing coins into a plane’s engine for good luck.

In February, a 28-year-old man was detained seven days and charged for tossing a coin inside a plane’s engine. His action delayed the flight and cost the airline nearly 140,000 yuan (US$21,000).

A senior engineer told the Beijing News that after confirming the number of coins, they usually need to open the engine and find them with a device similar to a gastroscope.

China’s Criminal Law states that whoever sabotages an aircraft to such a degree that the aircraft is in danger of being destroyed, without causing serious consequences, shall be sentenced to up to 10 years in jail. (Global Times)