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A flight that goes all the way
Updated 9/8/2006 10:40 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print | Subscribe to stories like this


Enlarge By Michael A. Schwarz, USA TODAY

Fantasy on high: Bob Smith gives one-hour rides in his Piper Cherokee 6 — complete with mattress — for $299.




Georgia corporate pilot Bob Smith has a soaring sideline: helping couples join the infamous "mile-high club." For $299, he'll take a frisky twosome past 5,280 feet in a Piper Cherokee 6 fitted with a mattress. The hour-long flights out of Carrollton, Ga., (details at milehighatlanta.com) have lured couples from as far as New York. Smith, 51, shares stories of highflying whoopee with USA TODAY's Kitty Bean Yancey.
Q: Who goes on these flights?

A: Couples from 18 and 19 up to their 60s. I've taken between 75 and 100 in five years. I've had people fly in from New York, New Jersey and Miami just to do the mile-high club. It's a lot easier (for them) than getting in the bathroom of a 737.

Q: Do men or women usually book the flights?

A: About 75% of the flights are booked by women. I've tried to figure that out, and I guess if the guy suggested it to a woman, he would be afraid she'd think he was some kind of pervert. But if the woman suggests it, the man thinks she's hot.

Q: But your plane is small. Aren't people embarrassed to fool around with you there?

A: No. I've got a curtain up so I can't see what's going on, and I wear a headset. But I guess the ones who want to (take a mile-high flight) aren't the inhibited type anyway.

Q: Don't you have to interrupt them to tell them when you're going to land?

A: I give them a kitchen timer. I set it on 50 minutes and I tell them when it goes off, they've got 10 minutes to get their clothes on and buckle up.

Q: What does the Federal Aviation Administration have to say about this kind of flight? Do they give you any trouble?

A: I have a commercial license, and this qualifies as a sightseeing trip. ... It's not against FAA rules to join the mile-high club.

Q: Do some people have a problem with what you do?

A: I've had some people get irritated. And I ask them: 'Do you get mad at people who own hotels and rent rooms to couples?' I'm just providing a space for them to have an opportunity to fulfill a fantasy.

Q: Does anyone else do this sort of thing?

A: The only one I know of is in Cincinnati. It's called Flamingo Air (flamingoair.net).

Q: Which do you prefer — piloting business execs or mile-high clubbers?

A: I like the corporate stuff. But I enjoy the mile-high club because the people behind me are enjoying themselves.

Q: I would imagine you get some married people who are not with their husbands or wives.

A: After the flight, I give (customers) a certificate on joining the mile-high club. I have had a couple of couples who did not want their names on the certificate.

Q: So the price is $269 for an hour, including champagne?

A: It's actually $299 now. I had to raise it because of fuel prices. The champagne is Cook's or the Spanish one in the black bottle (Freixenet). I don't give Dom (Perignon) or anything. You also get to keep the sheets. ... Everybody gets brand-new sheets.