Just for clarity - I was trying to emphasise an old aviation adage - Experience is what you get just after you really needed it - ie those close calls should and hopefully do, improve us as pilots because we should learn from our own mistakes as well as those of others. I know I have and when it comes to flying, I am my own harshest critic.
Has my ego led me to make mistakes in the air? Most certainly, especially in my younger days.
I'm not taking cheap shots from an anonymous armchair, I am pointing out that Dr SM would likely never again put himself in a similar position because he did learn from it - I'm sure he was aware of how poor decision making can escalate rapidly before he had this incident but it still happened to him. He has moved on, older and wiser and to his credit not shied away from understanding the causes but discussed them openly.