With the development of technology, it is very rare for you tofind someone carrying cash with them, especially in China. Coins are used onlyunder circumstances like bus fees, supermarket shopping, and toy stop.

But there is another place you find coins it is so bizarre that most ofour aviation fans frowned.

Today’ 5 Minutes with AOPA-China will discuss coins in the engine withDavid.

Nick: Would you like to introduce yourself?

David: Hello, everyone. I’m Yaoxinming based in Shenzhen. I am a pilotused to work for Shenzhen Airlines. Now I am running a company of generalaviation business.

Nick: I know coins in the engine is not a new piece of news. But Istill feel it is necessary to discuss this matter with you. What exactly isgoing through someone’s head when they decide to toss a piece of metal intoa highly complex machine, especially a machine that people’s lives depend on.

David: Actually I have heard of it a lot in news. They think throwingcoins into the engine brings them luck. For example, there was a woman who wasmeant to take a flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou. She tossed 9 coins to theengine to pray for safety, one of them was into the engine. The airline had toclear all the 150 passengers. To ensure the safety, maintenance staff conductedthorough inspection of the engine taking 4-5 hours. If the coin had been stuckin the engine, it could have led to engine failure which could cause severe airaccident.

Nick: Yes, tossing coins into engines will not bring you good luck,oppositely, the greetings from the God of Death, as small objects, such ascoins, can cause serious damage and even total engine failure on planes. Inshort, things could have gone seriously wrong if the plane took off beforefinding the coins. If fortunately the coin is found, this good luck ritual maycost thousands of dollars in maintenance and leave passengers delayed. See, notonly does tossing coins not give you good luck it will endanger aviation safetyand you could be fined and prosecuted. So, how to avoid this kind ofunfortunate incidents happen again?

David: We have to let people know more about the engine, aboutaviation, especially for the young people. Sometimes the mind the of old peopleis not easily changed, but I believe where there is a will, there is a way.

Nick: Exactly, aviation literacy is a must. AOPA-China is makingefforts in advocating aviation culture too. For example, we have aviationthemed summer camp for kids, and 5 PM Quiz where aviation topics are discussedin English on each working day. However, flight safety literacy should not justaim at kids. Whether you are a kid, teenager, adult or senior, whether you area student, manager, engineer, doctor or lawyer, flight safety knowledge shouldbe rooted in our heart when taking a flight. More advocacy of flight safety isneeded for the public. Well, this does require a lot of efforts from all sidesincluding companies like David’s, associations like AOPA-China as well asconcerned authorities.

In the end, I want to say if you want to ease your anxiety when flying,especially for the first-time flyers, you’re welcome to do whatever brings youcomfort, but please -- for the sake of your fellow passengers, airlinemechanics, and everyone else -- do not toss coins, or anything else, into planeengines.

That brings us to the end of today’s 5 Minutes with AOPA-China. Don’thesitate to leave us comments on today’s topic. Follow us on Wechat, Facebook,Twitter, Ximalaya and any podcast APP, you’ll find our previous episodes andcan have a binge listening. See you next week.

现在在中国很少看到人们使用现金了，电子支付几乎得到了普及。公交车都实现了微信或支付宝支付，硬币似乎逐渐淡出人们的视野。

直到上个月，它赫然出现在了航空安全的新闻里：一名乘坐天津航空的乘客往发动机投了6枚硬币。为确保飞行安全，航空公司临时换机。这类耸人听闻的事情并不是个例，东航、南航和祥鹏航空等航空公司都遇到过类似的案例：乘客往发动机投硬币“祈福”。

殊不知，这只会带来危险，而非福运。如果飞机起飞前没有及时取出硬币，必将导致发动机故障，甚至失效，威胁机上所有乘客和机组人员的人身安全。即使起飞前取出了硬币，机务人员也得对发动机进行全面的检测来保证飞行安全。这不仅会造成航班延误，还会对发动机造成损坏以及产生高昂修理费。投硬币的乘客也会被警察带走，罚款拘留。

航空安全是飞行的第一要义，为什么会发生看似如此荒谬的事情呢？

第一，中国乘坐飞机的人数比例其实很小，飞行作为一种出行方式还未普及。因此了解航空安全的人自然很少。

第二，中国对航空安全的宣传以及航空知识的普及远远不够。航空安全不仅仅是针对航空公司，它就像是消防安全，人人都应知晓。航空知识的普及也不是仅仅针对小孩，无论我们从事什么职业，多大年纪，至少在乘坐飞机之前了解相关的知识。

中国航空科普任重道远。你对今天的话题有什么看法？欢迎在评论区留言。