Staff Sgt. Tristen Foret watches air pressure gauges as giant air bags are filled Aug. 15, 2025, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, to lift a cargo plane as part of an exercise in crashed damaged disabled aircraft recovery, or CDDAR. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany — American and Serbian airmen gathered in a hangar Friday morning and made a 12-ton aircraft hover a foot off the ground — but it wasn’t a magic trick.

It was part of an annual exercise run by the 86th Maintenance Squadron to prepare airmen to clear damaged planes from a runway.

Much of the learning took place in a classroom but was followed Wednesday and Friday by hands-on simulations with a decommissioned G222 cargo plane.

The weeklong training brought about 11 airmen from the Ohio Air National Guard, Chievres Air Base in Belgium and the Serbian air force to train with airmen based at Ramstein, the largest U.S. Air Force base overseas.

Aircraft mishaps include popped tires and lost landing gear, or a plane may overshoot the runway and end up stuck in the mud. That’s where maintenance squadron members come in, using air bags and cranes to get the plane out of its predicament.

The airmen practiced lifting the plane by placing mattress-sized air bags underneath the wings and the belly. Trainees monitored 15 pressure gauges as they carefully inflated each bag until the wheels of the aircraft lifted off the ground.

The nose landing gear of a decommissioned G222 cargo plane is off the ground after being raised by giant air bags Aug. 15, 2025, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, during a CDDAR exercise. The abbreviation stands for crashed damaged disabled aircraft recovery. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

Giant air bags lift a decommissioned G222 cargo plane off its wheels during an exercise Aug. 15, 2025, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Airmen of the base’s 86th Maintenance Squadron and the 435th Contingency Response Support Squadron partnered with Serbian troops and Ohio Air National Guardsmen for a weeklong exercise in crashed damaged disabled aircraft recovery, or CDDAR. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

After that, crews can perform maintenance or place the aircraft on a vehicle to haul it off the runway.

“The primary focus is not causing secondary damage to the aircraft,” said Tech. Sgt. Jesse Hayes of the Ramstein-based 86th Maintenance Squadron. “Then, the number one priority is making sure all personnel are safe during the operation.”

Pressure gauges are used to monitor the air going into the mattress-sized air bags lifting a decommissioned G222 cargo aircraft off its wheels Aug. 15, 2025, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

Airmen watch the air bags raise the fuselage of a decommissioned G222 cargo plane Aug. 15, 2025, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, which hosted a weeklong exercise for American and Serbian airmen in CDDAR, which stands for crashed damaged disabled aircraft recovery. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

The rear landing gear of a decommissioned G222 cargo plane is off the ground after being raised by giant air bags during an exercise Aug. 15, 2025, at Ramstein Air Base, Germany. Airmen of the base’s 86th Maintenance Squadron and the 435th Contingency Response Support Squadron partnered with Serbian air force members for the exercise in crashed damaged disabled aircraft recovery, or CDDAR. (Michael Abrams/Stars and Stripes)

The G222, which is no longer used by the U.S. military, is similar to a C-17 or C-130 cargo plane, Hayes said. The squadron also conducts training throughout the year on how to move different types of aircraft. 

In past years, the squadron has worked with other international partners, including Estonian and Lithuanian air force firefighters. The partnership with Serbia this year meant U.S. airmen could learn about various types of unfamiliar aircraft, Hayes said.

“They’re teaching us just as much as we’re teaching them,” he said.

For Tech. Sgt. Robert Harger of the Ohio Air National Guard’s 121st Air Refueling Wing, the presence of the G222 helped make the experience at Ramstein more effective.  

At some bases, crews practice simply by inflating air bags, Harger said.

“To have an aircraft to actually pick up is really beneficial,” he said.