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The term mile-high club (or MHC) is a slang term applied collectively to individuals who have had sexual intercourse while on board a flying aircraft. The exact requirements for membership are open to some interpretation.
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One explanation for the act is the vibration of the plane, which may speed or improve arousal. Some say they have fantasies about pilots or flight attendants, or a fetish about planes themselves. For others, the appeal of joining the MHC is the thrill of doing something taboo and the thrill of the risk of being discovered.
History
An early reference to the concept is found in the betting book for Brooks's, a London gentlemen's club. The 1785 entry (only two years after the first successful balloon ascent by Étienne Montgolfier) reads: "Ld. Cholmondeley has given two guineas to Ld. Derby, to receive 500 Gs whenever his lordship fucks a woman in a balloon one thousand yards from the Earth." (However, there is no further indication that the bet was paid, or even how they would check it if it was claimed.)
A website using the name Mile High Club regards the "Club's" "founder" as pilot and design engineer Lawrence Sperry, along with "socialite Mrs. Waldo Peirce"(Dorothy Rice Sims) citing their flight in an autopilot-equipped Curtiss Flying Boat near New York in November 1916. The American transportation authority NTSB reports one case in which sexual activity is at least partly responsible for an aviation accident.
In November 2007, the BBC reported a story headlined "Airline Bans A380 Mile-High Club" about a measure taken by Singapore Airlines. The Airbus A380's twelve first class cabins have double beds, but they are not soundproof. Shortly after the introduction of the cabins the airline asked first class passengers to respect the other passengers.
Noted instances
Some incidents of people attempting sexual activity on planes have become popularly known:
Legality
The BBC ran an article investigating whether sex on a plane was legal. Their conclusion was that it would depend on many factors, such as whether or not the act occurred in sight of others. If British law applied, for example, it may constitute sex in lavatory to which the public has access, contrary to Sexual Offences Act 2003 LSs.71, with a maximum 6-month term.
Also, for international flights, the law could vary depending on departure and destination cities and the nation of the carrier airline.
However it is common in international law to apply to acts occurred on board a plane the law of the country of its registration, so the legality of the act should be analysed according to this law.
In January 2011, the United Kingdom's aviation regulator body, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), refused to recertify Mile-High Flights, an air charter company located in Gloucestershire for allowing its passengers to have sex while in-flight.
Charter flights
Some commercial enterprises cash in on people's interest in joining the club by offering special charter flights designed for the purpose or by selling souvenir certificates and other items. Some web sites also provide resources such as historical information about the club.