Ariane/TU134 soft 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.

The Ariane Tu-134A package contains two Tu-134 models (glass and solid nose), six liveries, panel, sounds and manuals. The exterior is very detailed and the liveries are well done with realistic dirt effects. The authentic looking panel is quite complex with all main systems modeled. The aircraft starts in cold & dark mode, so you really need to read the manual to power up this machine. The realism level of the panel can be compared to the freeware SCS Tu134A, but some switches are different. The flight dynamics seem to be more accurate and also the (poor) braking performance is correct.

Just like the freeware tu-134, the main landing gear is sinking a bit into the ground on takeoff/landing, but it's not a big deal. The suspension and gear animation is correct. All usual animations such as opening doors are included. The dynamic wingflex is a bit strange. It is airspeed based, so the wings go up when the airspeed is increasing, but the wings are also shaking, which is not realistic with calm winds. Another thing: the rotor blades of the engines are static instead of moving 3d rotors. Perhaps that will be corrected when the FSX version comes out. For now, the package is for FS2004 only.


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