Founded

2014

Headquarters

Lutz, Florida

Key People

Jerry Messaris, general manager

Number of Employees

170

Phone Number

(813) 792-9300

Website

TRU Simulation + Training

TRU Simulation + Training

Created from the merger of four flight training entities, Textron-owned TRU Simulation + Training manufactures a wide range of simulators and training devices for flight schools, corporate flight departments, airlines, military installations, and training providers. It also operates flight and maintenance training centers focused mainly on Textron fixed-wing and helicopter products.

Textron purchased Florida-based helicopter simulator company Opinicus and Montreal-based Mechtronix in 2013, merging them with its own South Carolina–based simulator division to form TRU in 2014. The company further expanded with the acquisition of California-based ProFlight—a Cessna CitationJet and Conquest training provider—later in 2014, bringing its total employee count to about 500.

Moving to the initial company headquarters at Goose Creek, South Carolina, Opinicus co-founder James Takats served as TRU president and CEO through 2015, securing deals to build full flight simulators (FFS) for the Airbus A320, Boeing 737 Max, Bell 525 Relentless, and ATR-600. The company also opened its Aviation Maintenance Academy in Wichita, Kansas, in 2015 to provide training on King Air 350i turboprops containing the Collins Pro Line Fusion avionics package; and it converted 15,000 square feet of space at its training facility in Lutz, Florida (near Tampa) into training center operations.

Under the guidance of a new president, Ian Walsh, TRU added 30,000 square feet to the Tampa facility to house four new full flight simulators plus additional classrooms and flight training devices in 2016. The facility continues to serve as an FAA-certified Part 142 airframer-supported pilot training center for several Textron Aviation products. 

In partnership with sister company Bell Helicopter, TRU opened the Bell Helicopter Training Academy in Valencia, Spain, in 2017, featuring a Bell 429 FFS certified by the European Aviation Safety Agency. 

Walsh left TRU in 2018 and Bell executive Gunnar Kleveland became president. During his tenure, the company partnered with FlightSafety International to form FlightSafety Textron Aviation Training, which offers training for various Cessna, Beechcraft, and Hawker aircraft models at 16 locations using 89 simulators. 

In response to the COVID-19 crisis, Textron suspended airline simulator manufacturing at TRU’s Montreal facility in mid-2020, laying off approximately half of the subsidiary’s workforce and concentrating its remaining resources on business aviation, rotorcraft, and military simulation products. After Canada-based flight training provider CAE purchased the Montreal facility along with TRU entities in France and Malaysia several months later, Textron restructured the subsidiary with the Florida facility as headquarters and named TRU vice president of engineering Jerry Messaris as general manager.