A pilot who has a flourishing Mile High Club tourism business in Australia said his enterprise started as a joke.
American Chuck McElwee said he was loading a mattress onto his light aircraft to transport a patient to a country hospital when he jokingly told a curious onlooker that he was starting a mile high club.
A local newspaper in Perth got wind of the venture and sent out an intrepid reporter to discover the truth. The pilot continued the joke, and persuaded a young couple to pose for photographs and say they had been on a flight.
The resulting publicity persuaded McElwee to launch a Mile High Club for real. Last year 314 couples enjoyed the experience at $650 a time, including champagne and chocolates.
"Ninety percent it’s women who pay for it," said McElwee, adding that in such a small plane he feels every movement behind the curtained passenger section.
"You might say we feel the earth move," he says.
A 70-year-old woman has returned three times in the company of three different younger men.
by TravelMole Australia
