High flying cooking; culinary class feats at 30,000 feet

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Katherine B. Holt
  • 6th Air Mobility Wing Public Affairs
MACDILL AFB, Fla --  Think cooking at home is hard? Try cooking on a C-37A in cramped quarters while flying at 30,000 feet. Flight attendants from the 310th Airlift Squadron do it all the time. 

Joy Rupe, a comfort cuisine personal chef, taught a culinary class recently to current flight attendants and to recruit others. The class was designed to teach quick and tasty meals, while using utensils and tools on board the aircraft that flight attendants have available for use during flight. 

Classes are held monthly. Each class offers four to five different recipes, which range from appetizers to desserts to entrees to side dishes, while also giving the attendants a wide range of ideas for meals. 

Not only does the class give valuable training for current flight attendants, it gives it to those who want to become flight attendants as well. 

"All the food we serve is prepared from scratch," said Tech Sgt. Fred Johnson, 310th Airlift Squadron flight chief. "Most of the preparation prior to the mission is done in the kitchen." 

Flight attendants ensure aircraft safety and they provide passenger comfort during the mission. They plan all the menus, coordinate the meal requirements, purchase all the food necessary for the meals and provide variety of services in the cabin. 

There are many steps to take when becoming a flight attendant. The first is meeting the eligibility requirements like getting commander release approval. Then a member must fill out a 1A6 package, which may take up to 30 days. Enlisted performance reports weigh heavily in the application process, and every EPR is a factor. 

After the package has been reviewed, applicants will go in front of a board. The board is made up of flight chiefs throughout Air Mobility Command. They interview applicants, and start making their picks. The interview is not the last stop; the applicant must complete survival school and water survival training before becoming a flight attendant. They must also pass a physical. 

"This is hard work," said Johnson. "But it is the most rewarding job; you can travel the world and get paid for it."
The mission is extremely important. The C-37A holds five people: two pilots, one flight engineer, one communications support officer and one flight attendant. 

The crew's primary concern is safety first. A safe flight is the most important, said Johnson. The second concern is providing customer comfort.
"We support seven of the nine combat commanders in the Department of Defense," he added. 

"Customer satisfaction and a flight attendant's success depend on the culinary skills they develop," said Col. Jon Klaus, 6th Operations Group commander. "Ninety percent of the interaction on a mission happens between the flight attendant and the combat commander." 

The key to mission success really depends on what happens in the kitchen; the more preparations that are done by the flight attendant before the flight will only help to ensure better service for our customers during the flight, added Colonel Klaus. 

The 310th Airlift Squadron is always looking for flight attendants. Application packets must be turned in by June. Airman wishing to get first-person experience should stop by Hangar 3 and speak to a flight attendant today to get a start toward a high visibility career.