For the U.S. Military, the accuracy of their training and level of preparedness for unexpected situations can be the difference between life or death. “Any kind of odd scenarios or malfunctions, all those things we can train a bunch of different ways and they can train over and over again until they get it right,” said Paul Kralovanec, Director of Engineering for Aero Simulation.
Founded in 1983 by Ybor city native and experienced Aerodynamics engineer Joe Fernandez, Aero Simulation specializes in the design, development, and manufacture of state-of-the-art training devices for the U.S. military, primarily focusing on fixed wing airplanes and rotary wing helicopters.
These training devices, known as simulators, mirror the operating experience of various types of military aircraft and maritime vessels. Not settling for simply producing a realistic cockpit environment, Aero simulation starts building their simulators with “an actual part of an old airplane,” according to Kralovanec. They go to military aircraft graveyards and cut the cockpits out of actual decommissioned planes. “That way,” Kralovanec said, “we can ensure that all the parts inside the cockpit are exactly where they are supposed to be,” enabling pilots to train their muscle memory.
Once the simulator is fully operational, Aero can create a wide range of simulated scenarios ranging from standard operational conditions to emergencies, diverse weather environments, and even virtual combat situations. “We can make it rain or we can make it snow, it can be day or night, it can be very windy, or it can be a calm day,” Kralovanec said. Instead of being at the mercy of the weather for training, Aero can “simulate all those different things within a half an hour,” equipping operators with hands-on experience without the added cost of time and fuel. This ensures that whether the trainee is in the sky or on land, our service member will always be able to find their footing.
Providing experienced contractors to develop and modify simulator flight models since its inception, Aero has seen steady expansion in the last 40 years. “I’ve been working with the company since 1993… this will be my 30th year with the company,” Kralovanec said, “I’ve seen the company grow from 6 people when I was hired to now. Today, we have 240 people.”
The key to that expansion, according to Kralovanec is “giving the government things that are above and beyond the requirement, expanding the envelope of the scenario, expanding the number of malfunctions that may be available or the number of airfields they can land at, and providing them a higher quality.” He says that this allows Aero to “continue to build our reputation as a company that builds high fidelity flight training devices for the U.S military.”
Aero simulation has been a member of the Tampa Bay Chamber since July 2022 and was a finalist for the Chamber’s prestigious Small Business of the Year Awards last year.
“What do we do above and beyond? It’s exceeding the expectations of building high quality training devices for the U.S. military. It’s one way that our employees can give back, do our part in supporting the war fighter” Kralovanec said.
