Pilots who are reading this thread will know that a twin-engine airliner requires a higher thrust-to-weight ratio than airliners with a larger number of engines, to cater for engine failure during take-off and the need to clear screen height. Hence the rather pedestrian climb rate of the early A340 compared with the largely similar A330.
There were some exceptions, such as the VC10, which the ARB required to be able to continue climb after losing 2 engines on the same side - however, if the 3-engined Tu154 has about the same thrust-to-weight ratio as an A320, then that is probably higher than regulations strictly require.
News of the Solchi disaster seems to be slipped off the front pages of Western rags, which seem to be more concerned with the deaths of Parfitt, Michael, Fisher and Adams than 92 innocent Russians...
Were those 'official' CVR transcripts? If so, from what source?