Not discounting your friends looking to advance their skills but how many have setup like this one? How many think there is a need for them to be landing at Diego-Garcia if they are not a US Reservist pilot?
I can see all of the other places if there was a destination point for the airlines, which there is at the Int’l airport on the SE cost of Sri Lanka. I would be most interested to know what the other sites were before making any accusations either pro or con.
It is just too easy to just start blaming the pilot when all other possibilities are evaporating as time marches on.
It’s fairly common. Friend on IRC flies for Delta, says he has one and so do quite a few of his co-workers. Not all are equally nice, but quite a few are. Also says being absolutely sky-mad is very common among pilots...it’s their job, it’s their hobby, it’s their life.