Yes, Flight International has done an article from a ride in Typhoon, but it did not "choose" to send the defence editor rather than its tame test pilot. When the ride was offered (by the RAF with support from BAE) a TP ride was requested as first preference, but turned down by the service and company. And by no means was the resulting article in any way dressed up as a proper flight test - fun thought it was thanks.
The aircraft flown was a Tranche 1 Block 2 jet, so not really frontline representative - that's what we'd like to see now for the magazine please, Eurofighter.
Pete has had some past Typhoon project experience, having evaluated the type’s control laws on a large motion simulator before first flight, and also tried the current simulator at Coningsby a couple of years ago. And with the recent Rafale experience, who better to have a go?
Whatever you might like to believe, Jacko, there is no queue of current, rated service TPs cleared and offering to do evaluations like Rafale for magazines. I suspect most of them are a bit busy with the day jobs.