Photo By Airman Paden Henry | U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Evan Kurimoto, 86th Operational Support Squadron aircrew equipment journeyman and Airman Jack Meyers, 86th OSS aircrew equipment apprentice, fold a parachute at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, April 10, 2026. Each parachute is inspected and repacked to meet strict standards before returning to service. (U.S. Air Force photo by Airman Paden Henry) see less
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86th’s Aircrew Flight Equipment shop keeps aircrew rigged and ready
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany - Aircrew may never meet the person who packed their parachute. They may never see the room where it was laid out, inspected and rebuilt. You may never know how many times an Airman stopped and fixed something before it ever made it back to the aircraft.
Although, if you take a step inside the 86th Operational Support Squadron’s aircrew flight equipment shop, you’ll meet the Airmen behind it.
“Packing a parachute is simpler than people think, but it’s more dangerous than it looks,” said Senior Airman Evan Kurimoto, 86th OSS aircrew flight equipment journeyman. “The difference is the attention to detail.”
Parachutes are brought in from their flights, stretching 81-feet long across wooden tables. The canopies are checked by hand, lines spaced evenly through fingers and every fold pressed to standard.
Small mistakes can turn into bigger ones if they are not caught early. Everything has to line up to fit the parachute into a scaled-down bag.
“If you miss the small stuff, it turns into big problems,” Kurimoto said.
Airman Jack Meyers, 86th OSS aircrew flight equipment apprentice, works through the same process when he’s tightening threads into straight lines before moving onto the next step.
“It’s daunting,” Meyers said. “There’s a lot of strings and a lot to pack into a tiny little bag.”
Parachutes are only a small part of the equation of what moves through the shop. They also handle oxygen systems, life preservers, rafts and the survival gear that comes off the aircraft. A big part of the job is going out onto the flight-line and ensuring that everything is up to caliber so that nothing leaves damaged, outdated or unchecked. If something fails up in the air, there is no second chance.
“You’ve got to make sure everything’s right before it goes back out,” Meyers said.
That work feeds into the bigger Global Gateway’s mission; the amount of aircraft launching daily, moving people, cargo and patients across multiple regions means equipment inside those aircraft are expected to work without hesitation.
“We offer peace of mind for aircrew,” Kurimoto said. “If we do our job correctly, you’ll never know we were here.”
For the 86th OSS aircrew flight equipment shop, trust is what shapes the standard.
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