Frasca International, the Urbana, Illinois flight-simulation and training business that Rudy Frasca founded in 1958, has been acquired by flight-training giant FlightSafety International (FSI). The sale—announced yesterday but completed on December 31—expands FSI’s reach into the lighter end of the general aviation market with Frasca’s trainer lines for single-piston Cessna, Diamond, and Piper aircraft to its full-flight level-B, C, and D simulators for models such as the Cessna Citation CJ1+, Beechcraft King Air, Cessna Caravan, and Bell helicopters.
The acquisition brings Frasca into the fold after it was named a subcontractor last year on the FlightSafety Defense U.S. Navy TH-73A Aircrew Training Services (ATS) program. Announced in April, the subcontract award called for 18 level-6 and 7 flight-training devices to be designed and built by Frasca.
A Frasca spokeswoman said the acquisition will enable each company to increase its training capabilities through “scalable and integrated product lines, increased innovation, and expanded expertise in the training and simulation market.”
She further stated that FlightSafety and Frasca “share a long history of collaboration dating back decades to the friendship of the founders of both companies, Al Ueltschi and Rudy Frasca. Both companies were started by passionate aviators and each has a 60-plus-year history of advancing aviation safety.”
Frasca president John Frasca and the rest of the management team will remain in place and the company will continue to operate as Frasca International with all employees remaining in Urbana. In addition, according to the News-Gazette in Urbana, the Frasca family will retain ownership of Frasca Field.