Mile High Club booming in Cincinnati

At $425 a pop, what may be the nation's only Mile High Club has been quietly operating for more than 20 years at Cincinnati Municipal Lunken Airport.

 

Business hit warp speed this week in light of Valentine's Day stories featuring Flamingo Air in local and national media.

Owned and operated by Dave MacDonald and his wife, Sharon McGee, Flamingo Air offers couples a little afternoon delight in the largest single-engine plane Piper built, a Cherokee 6, circling the Cincinnati skyline.

 

They provide passengers with champagne, chocolates -- and privacy behind a curtain separating the pilot's chair from the rest of the aircraft. Center seats have been replaced with fluffy cushions.

"To the best of our knowledge, we are the only ones who offer it in the U.S. as a business," said MacDonald, 65, who has been a pilot since 1985. "We were on CNN yesterday and the story is running in the U.K. now."

 

Flights are available seven days a week between 10 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. A typical week sees three to four flights booked. This week, flights increased to as many as eight a day.

 

"We don't fly at night. This is such a constricted air space with [Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport] being so close, night is very easy to stumble into their air space and you get into trouble. It's just not worth it. And trying to get the pilots to work late is another story."

 

The couple started Flamingo Air in 1991 mainly as a charter flight service, small flight school and dispatch center.

Hour-long sight-seeing tours of picturesque downtown Cincinnati, the Ohio River and Northern Kentucky also became a popular draw. And it was on those tours the Mile High Club evolved behind the plane's curtain.

It started on a dare. MacDonald was sitting around talking with other pilots and one of them dared him to offer Mile High Club.

 

"I am going to be honest with you," he said. "You are not in aviation very long before the subject of airborne romance comes up. I said, 'oh, hell, I could make that work.' They said, 'no, you couldn't stand a chance in Cincinnati. It's way too conservative.' Well, that was like throwing down the gauntlet."

The flights clear about $50,000 a year, or about 10% of his overall business.

At times, the trips can veer on the wild side.

 

"I've had champagne corks hit the back of the curtain and my head," MacDonald said. "I had a high heel in my ear one time. I can tell you stories from now until the cows come home, but generally what goes on back there, I have no idea. The most difficult thing is trying to top it. Most of our people have already been through the limos, the heart-shaped beds and fantasy hotels. By the time they get to airborne romance, it's very difficult for them to find something to top that experience."

 

It's not all hanky panky. Some couples are just looking for some peace and quiet.

"We actually had one couple show up with a picnic basket," he recalled. "They told us they had eight children and just wanted a quiet lunch together. We don't bill it as the Mile High Club. We simply promote the romantic side of it and whatever happens happens."

Nearly all of the clients who call to book flights are women.

 

"We've done thousands of these over the years and we've only had maybe 12 men book them. It's strictly a ladies market," he said. "The flights are non-refundable, so if the fella goes and books this and his partner says 'uh-uh' he has a real expensive airplane ride on his hands. But if she books it, there's not too many morons who are going to turn that down.

 

"The ladies take this very, very seriously," he continued. "If a guy turns them down, that's a personal affront. I know of five guys who did turn it down, and three of those resulted in a divorce."

Some of his clients are couples trying to re-kindle the spark in their marriage or mark a special occasion. Once, a couple hopped a flight to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

 

"We are actually associated with several marriage encounter groups at various churches," he said. "They recommend us for couples trying to fire their marriage up. We've also done two weddings on the plane. The justice of the peace was only licensed in Kenton County, though, so we had to circle Kenton County during the ceremony."

Alas, he is too discreet to kiss and tell by revealing some of his famous local clients.

"I couldn't go there," he laughed.

 

(http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-02-16/mile-high-club-cincinnati/53124184/1)