TAMPA, Fla.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb 16, 2026--
TRU Simulation + Training Inc., a Textron Inc. (NYSE:TXT) company, and an affiliate of Textron Aviation, announced today its Full Flight Simulator (FFS) for the Cessna Citation Ascend has achieved Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Level D qualification. This milestone significantly enhances advanced training options for midsize jet pilots, delivering a highly immersive and true-to-life training environment on the recently FAA certified Citation Ascend. European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) qualification is anticipated in 2026, further extending the simulator’s global reach.
This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260216456292/en/
“Pilots deserve training capabilities that reflect the advanced technology and performance that the Citation Ascend brings to the midsize jet category,” said Jerry Messaris, vice president and general manager, TRU Simulation. “Achieving FAA qualification ensures pilots can train in the most realistic environment available, building confidence and precision for every mission.”
With advanced features designed to elevate pilot training, the Citation Ascend FFS includes TRU Simulation’s REALCue motion system, delivering highly realistic motion feedback using a Six Degrees of Freedom (6DOF) electric platform with 60-inch stroke actuators. The intuitive motion user interface simplifies diagnostics and manual operations through a user-friendly graphical interface.
For immersive visuals, the simulator uses high-definition projectors across a wide 200x40-degree display. Instructors benefit from a powerful yet easy-to-use IOS (Instructor Operating Station), featuring dual touchscreen displays and a wireless Remote Instructor Control Unit (RICU) for flexible control. The IOS also supports essential maintenance functions like Qualification Test Guide (QTG) testing and troubleshooting, ensuring smooth and efficient simulator operation.
About TRU Simulation
TRU Simulation + Training Inc., an affiliate of Textron Aviation Inc., is a leading provider of high-fidelity training devices and full-motion simulators for the aviation industry. With a strong commitment to excellence and innovation, TRU Simulation has been at the forefront of flight simulation technology for over a decade. Our customized simulator solutions empower pilots to navigate the skies confidently, while our state-of-the-art technology ensures safe and realistic training experiences. For more information, visit www.TRUSimulation.com.
About Textron Aviation
We inspire the journey of flight. For more than 95 years, Textron Aviation Inc., a Textron Inc. company, has empowered our collective talent across the Beechcraft, Cessna and Hawker brands to design and deliver the best aviation experience for our customers. With a range that includes everything from business jets, turboprops, and high-performance pistons, to special mission, military trainer and defense products, Textron Aviation has the most versatile and comprehensive aviation product portfolio in the world and a workforce that has produced more than half of all general aviation aircraft worldwide. Customers in more than 170 countries rely on our legendary performance, reliability and versatility, along with our trusted global customer service network, for affordable and flexible flight. For more information, visit www.txtav.com.
About Textron Inc.
Textron Inc. is a multi-industry company that leverages its global network of aircraft, defense, industrial and finance businesses to provide customers with innovative solutions and services. Textron is known around the world for its powerful brands such as Bell, Cessna, Beechcraft, Pipistrel, Jacobsen, Kautex, Lycoming, E-Z-GO, and Textron Systems. For more information, visit: www.textron.com.
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking statements which may project revenues or describe strategies, goals, outlook or other non-historical matters; these statements speak only as of the date on which they are made, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements. These statements are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause our actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the timing of certification of new aircraft products.
TRU Simulation’s Full Flight Simulator for the Cessna Citation Ascend achieves FAA qualification, expanding advanced training for midsize jet pilots
TRU Simulation’s Full Flight Simulator for the Cessna Citation Ascend achieves FAA qualification, expanding advanced training for midsize jet pilots
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia and Ukraine traded deadly strikes overnight and on Saturday morning, killing 10 people and wounding several dozen more, officials on both sides said Saturday.
The attacks came as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy traveled to Istanbul for talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He will also meet with Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual leader of Eastern Orthodox Christians.
“We are working to strengthen our partnership to ensure the real protection of lives, advance stability, and guarantee security in Europe and the Middle East. Joint efforts always yield the best results,” Zelenskyy said in a post on the messaging app Telegram after arriving in Istanbul.
Russia fired 286 drones at Ukraine overnight, 260 of which were downed, the Ukrainian Air Force said in an online statement.
Five people — three women and two men — were killed in the city of Nikopol in the Dnipropetrovsk region, and 19 others were wounded, the head of the regional military administration Oleksandr Hanzha said. The attack damaged market stalls and a shop.
In the city of Sumy, not far from the border with Russia, a strike wounded 11 people, the National Police said. Residential areas were hit, and houses, cars and utility networks were damaged in the attack.
In the capital, Kyiv, a drone strike caused a fire on the first floor of a three-story office and warehouse building, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said. No casualties were reported.
In the partially occupied Donetsk region, a Russian drone strike hit a civilian car on the Kostyantynivka–Druzhkivka road on Saturday morning, killing one woman and wounding another, according to the head of the Kostyantynivka City Military Administration, Serhiy Horbunov.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed Saturday that its forces fired “long-range air- and ground-based precision weapons, as well as strike drones” at unspecified “military-industrial and energy facilities used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
Meanwhile, the Russian-installed head of the occupied Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, said Ukrainian forces hit railroad infrastructure in the region and private houses, killing a family of three — a couple and their 8-year-old child.
The Security Service of Ukraine, also known as the SBU, claimed it used drone strikes to halt production at a metallurgical plant in the Russian-occupied city of Alchevsk in the Luhansk region, most of which is controlled by the Russian forces.
The SBU said on its Facebook page that drone strikes damaged blast furnaces, key production workshops, distillation columns, gas pipelines and electrical substations that power the plant, which supplies Russia’s state tank and railroad car plant, Uralvagonzavod.
There was no immediate comment from Russian officials.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Russian military overnight shot down 85 Ukrainian drones over nine Russian regions, the annexed Crimea region and the Black Sea.
In Russia's Rostov region, on the border with Ukraine, one person was killed and four sustained injuries, according to the region's governor, Yuri Slyusar. The attack sparked a fire at a warehouse facility of an unspecified logistics company, and another fire on a dry-cargo vessel flying a foreign flag several kilometers from the shore, Slyusar said.
In the Samara region's city of Tolyatti, one person was wounded, Gov. Vyacheslav Fedorishchev said. The roof of a residential building was damaged and windows were shattered in several apartments, he said.
In this image made from video provided by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service on Saturday, April 4, 2026, a Russian T-72B3M tank fires towards Ukrainian position. (Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
In this photo provided by the Ukrainian Emergency Services on Saturday, April 4, 2026, rescue workers put out a fire of a residential building damaged following a Russian strike in Sumy, Ukraine. (Ukrainian Emergency Service via AP)
