I enjoy reading the yarns of an old 70's Mirage pilot in Friday's Australian. Shoots from the hip and believes his own bull$hit. Very entertaining and I wish the articles longer. Actually, I wish he'd sink a few beers and then write, so the yarns could match the "epicness" of a Friday night, or any night for that matter, at an air force mess where there was a fighter squadron.
I do cringe at his comments on civil aviation matters and his fallback as an EK captain. He writes like a mercenary contract pilot with little regard to the holistic complexities of civil airline flying or empathy or understanding of wider piloting issues. Having flown in the Middle East myself, this is not untypical, where anyone from any background, could flourish amongst pretty modest standards, just so long as you don't make a stand on professional agendas commonly accepted in the first world .