The figure I’ve heard is closer to 10000 feet, so I’d think there could be significantly less oxygen.
Enough less to have an impact on one’s orgasm?
Aircraft are normally pressurised to 8000 feet. That is high enough for it to affect you a little, particularly if you are overweight, unfit, a smoker, unhealthy etc. You may notice that alcohol makes you sleepy more quickly than at sea level. If you are not drinking though, and are of average fitness you are unlikely to notice any effects from being at 8000’.
IMO the thrill of joining the Mile High Club is partly because it’s a club! The mere fact that people have given it a nickname makes it desireable. Also, undoubtedly for some it is the thrill of maybe getting caught, for others, who knows?
After 9/11, I would be very surprised if the airlines would allow multiple people in the bathrooms.
In any event, I’m sure the thrill is the challange of it. You are even more of a super stud if you can join the MHC with someone you meet during the flight.
Any yahoo can screw on a plane. Meh, I’d rather be part of the Space Shuttle Club… its a bit more exclusive.
That would be the Zero Gee Club.
On pressurisation: Almost all light aircraft are capable of flying 5,280 ft MSL, and very few of them are pressurised.
The Sally Ride jokes write themselves!
Yeah, but I’d guess relatively few members of the MHC did their, ah, initiations in small, unpressurized planes – so that can’t be the usual point of the experience, if, in fact, the low pressure makes a difference in the experience of the orgasm.
I think Hail Ants nailed it first. It’s not the sex itself that’s the thrill, it’s the bragging rights. Oxygen deprivation or no, I can’t imagine sex in an airplane bathroom being all that comfortable, let alone good.
FWIW, Amtrak’s Acela trains have fold-down baby changing tables in the bathrooms. Apparently they’ve had a rash of problems with the tables breaking off. Think of the “Mile Long Club”.
Bingo! I can’t even stand up in the bathrooms of most mid-sized or commuter planes anymore. There’s barely room for one person to turn around.
:smack: In order to join the Mile High Club, you have to be 5,280 feet AGL. (Just being in Denver doesn’t count.)
Bush Pilot wings. (Naughty.)
Others have theoized about air pressure, but I’m going with dehydration/empty stomach. The air on a plane is very dry and after even a relatively short flight you are usually dehydrated. Most flights offer small snacks, or food that is not wholly appetizing. Anytime you drink on an empty stomach or while dehydrated, it hits you hard.
Cecil on the Zero-G Club. Apparently, the questioner was right about there being a married couple on STS 47, but I must say I’m disappointed in mission specialist Jan Davis and payload commander Mark Lee if they didn’t do any tests. The “crowded and no privacy” argument doesn’t even hold here, since that was a Spacelab mission, and most of the cargo bay would therefore have been converted to habitable space.
“I had a wank on a train once. Does that count?”
Ardal O’Hanlon
Well, the graphic in the background shows a male astronaut stripped for action and in a flex pose to impress the obviously female companion, so you have to wonder exactly what the mission objectives are. You can practically hear the chigga-chigga-boom soundtrack. “Just what do you think you’re doing, Mark?” “I’m just on my way up to Clavius. I’ve got the greatest enthusiasm and confidence in the mission. Why don’t you open up your pod bay doors for me, baby?”
It’s just too bad the Italians aren’t running the space program. They wouldn’t be coy about sending up a few porn stars and raking in the dough. “Never mind Velcro and Tang; we’ve got the world’s first microgravity shag movie!”
Stranger
What do you mean, never mind 'tang?
I thought you could only join the MHC if you did it with a stranger you met on the plane.
I’ve never heard of that rule.
Makes it quite a challenge.
If that were the case, a website like Flash Mob would be helpful.
“M/24, will be in Economy class on United 487 tonight, looking for F/18-43 for MHC membership”
Personally I’d be going for 6080’ AGL that way you’ve got the nautical mile covered as well.