Cathy Howat wrote on Jul 11^th, 2011 at 8:51am:

And a lot of them were/are very interesting designs. The TU-154 is still in service. Everyone only seems interested in Western--mainly US or British- planes, when there is so much variety out there!

I think we are seeing some rather typical stereotype perception there, more or less dominant.

On a media market where western and mostly American films dominate, the 'typical' Russian technology is driven by drunk guys, kicking their MIR station and aeroplanes if something goes wrong, to make them work again. Russian people (still describing that stereotype) drink vodka all the time and only copy western technology. They are happy and lazy (cause: vodka) and also closer to crime than western people.
If you ask people what they know about Russia or if they even want to know and what sources they are using, you will soon get that western media dominated picture.

Some people in science even speak about a 'western arrogance' there, when describing this type of superficial thinking and perception.
It's wrong, as every across-the-board perception on this planet is.
You will see nearly every media getting filled with this sort of biased footage. E. g. Youtube mostly relates 'Russian' to missed approaches, alcohol or both.  ;D

A 'Concordski' for example never existed in the aviation language, that phrase was a media creation and does not for one second take into account the very own Russian development going into that plane.
Looks so similar to western things? Well, you may see some more 'copies' of supersonic birds there as some forms are described by the laws of supersonic travel, not by spies of any kind.

Russia was and still is a hi-tech and also very proud part of the world. Hi-tech goes for certain areas, proud goes for all.
I relate vodka to Russia too, but I also relate beer to the Germans, baguettes to the French and photographic devices to every Japanese guy. ;D In the funny way of speaking, this shouldn't be a problem, but sometimes this way of thinking influences our real impressions.

Of course, one can't say that the Russian technology was exported in the numbers of some American or European ones, but that does not mean that it has no potential at all. The world relies on some heavy and sturdy Russian tech when it comes to rugged and capable cargo planes for example. And aviation history wouldn't be the same if some Russian devs hadn't set the pace for others.
For example, the US Space Shuttles are now out of service and you may ask which nation now provides the transport into space.

I more or less summarize things (in the wrong way) with the word 'Russian' of course, the Soviet Union was the country which later split up and which forms a big part of mankind's history in the later years.
Closing the eyes and writing it down to stereotypes there doesn't do the people nor the technology justice in my eyes.

So one has to praise the idea of getting some nice payware birds from that era/country into the FSX air.