Perhaps he is flying club aircraft that he considers to be old and only marginally airworthy. Although they get through a £5000 annual, they may have only half their radios working, have a tatty appearance and develop flight stopping faults regularly.
Maybe he has been stranded at a distant airfield with a plane that has gone 'tech'. Or, dread the thought, he has actually had to do a real forced landing in a farmers field. (Regular PFL practice is quite a good idea.)
I don't think there are many pilots who fly fault free aircraft.