Unknow Target
The misunderstanding on the flight levels comes from being on different continents.
contrary to the USA where flight levels only start above 18.000 ft (by recollection), here in Europe they can start as low as FL 35, so any VFR pilot is required to know about them before he even goes solo.
Either way it was only one of several apparantly blatent mistakes, which are all perfectly acceptable, after all we're human. What is not acceptable is an inability of a pilot to learn from his mistakes and try to change wrongs into hero like acts.