Soviet Classics Simulation Tu-134A

The Tupolev Tu-134 is a short range Soviet twin-engined airliner, meant as a replacement for the Tu-124. The Tu-134 was the last Tupolev passenger aircraft with a glass nose for the navigator. The later B variant had the radar in the nose. The first version could carry 64 passengers in two classes. An improved variant, the Tu-134A, was stretched by 2.1 meter (6 ft 10 in), featured an auxiliary power unit in the tail and could take up to 84 passengers. Also, the engines of the Tu-134A variant are equipped with thrust reversers, replacing the braking parachute. The Tu-134 first flew in 1962 and entered commercial service with Aeroflot in September 1967. The final Tu-134 rolled off the assembly line in 1985 after 852 had been produced.

Soviet Classics Simulation (SCS) developed a nice and complex freeware Tu-134A. The package comes with an easy to use installer and includes two liveries: Aeroflot and Perm Airlines. The exterior looks good and all the usual animations are present. The panel is quite complex with many simulated systems, accessible via several sub-panels. The default start up mode is cold & dark, which means that the aircraft is completely shut down. Unfortunately, there is no manual included, so it's not easy to start up all the systems. There is however a short engine start manual available (see the download locations for the link) which also includes a switch overview. That overview is quite handy since all the buttons and switches have Russian text on them and there aren't any English popup tooltips either. Unlike the Project Tupolev Tu-154M, you can save your flight with all systems on and then load it the next time, so you don't have to go through the start up procedure again.

The included engine sounds are not that good, especially in the external view modes. No virtual cockpit or wingviews are included. The main landing gear is sinking a bit into the ground on takeoff/landing. The automatic engine smoke activates a bit too early, so you might see a large cloud of smoke around the aircraft on slow taxi speed.











--