The Height of Passion

In November 1916, Lawrence Sperry, who had already made history as the inventor of the autopilot, entered the annals of aviation a second time. A prurient daredevil, he found that his new device facilitated a midair assignation with a female flight student — thereby unofficially inaugurating the Mile High Club. Things almost ended tragically that day: Sperry's boat plane went crashing into a New York bay, where two bewildered duck hunters saved the naked couple.

How many passengers today try to follow Sperry's lascivious lead? Flight attendants everywhere have tales of being propositioned by (usually drunken) passengers,...

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