It's a rather old model, originally for FS2002, updated for FS2004, downloaded years ago
from this site:
Il-18
The FDE is very good provided that the model is flown according to the manual.
The original panel (metric and Russian language) contains lot of very special and well working gauges and makes this model unique among other FS aircrafts. Unfortunatelly, it is probably FSX incompatible due to C gauges. That's why I still use FS2004. Some other panels might be available on
http://www.avsim.ru, but I'm not sure. I've also seen some "translated" panels on flightsim.com years ago, but they were different (actually sets of FS usual gauges put on the Il18 panel bitmap, therefore all "special features" lost).
This model requires lot of preflight work (navigational calculations etc). During the flight, the main (pilot's) panel is used usually only for take-off and landing. Once on the track, the navigator's panel is used for most of the flight time, with regular "jumps" to F/E seat to check fuel status. Long flights (like transatlantic) seem to be short, because there is always something to check, to adjust, to calculate...
I like this FS model, designed with enthusiasm and knowledge. And, last but no least, I have some personal RL memories of this type... 8)
