'Mile high' venture takes romance to next level

With the real estate market down, a Valley mortgage broker has decided to look the other direction for a new business venture - about a mile up.

Jeff Riedel has started a Chandler company to help couples satisfy romantic fantasies in the modified cabin of a twin-engine Cessna 320.

Riedel hasn't quit his day job, but his new venture, Mile High AZ, is "a heck of a lot more fun to talk about than being a Realtor and mortgage broker," he said.
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The plane's rear passenger seats are removed to make way for dcor he calls "retro lounge jazz club." The space, in a gray and black motif, includes plush pillows, a mattress, stereo system and bar with champagne. A "thick curtain" separates the couple from the pilot.

The $750 fee buys 90 minutes of cruising at 6,000 feet.

The Web site of the Mile High Club lists 10 U.S. companies and one in Canada that provide similar services. None is in the Valley.

Riedel says he got the idea when he received an e-mail about a similar company in Atlanta. He approached a friend, Richard McPherson, who usually flies his plane for fly-fishing trips and corporate flights.

"The more we looked at it, we thought maybe we could do this," Riedel said.

So far, he's provided only test flights to friends, at his expense, who supplied "testimonials" on the Web site.

"We wanted to do something different that we would never forget," one posting reads. "It was everything we expected and more."

The flights are based out of Chandler Municipal Airport, but customers also can be picked up at Scottsdale or Phoenix Deer Valley airports. </img> </img> </img> </img>


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