Editing DIRK MICHAELS

Name: Dirk Michaels
Country of Birth: Australia
Height: 5'10-6'
Physical Description: 
      Dirk has that bit of crazy in the eye that marks him as a risk taker. He's handsome, rugged with gray blue eyes. Often he wears a broad brimmed hat, with the teeth of some animal along the brim. He's athletic, and thin (he weighs around 170lbs). When 'off duty' or not someplace he considers dangerous, he dresses casually, with a simple button down shirt (often left with one or two buttons undone), a vest, pants and boots. 
      He is most often seen with a drink in hand. 

Education: 
      Most would consider Dirk to have no more then a high school education, but that's pretty far from the truth - Dirk is a college boy, and has some degree or another. Underneath his usually crazy and risk taking demeanor, there's a pretty sharp brain functioning - likely if there wasn't, he'd long have been dead. 
      He often functions as a cook or a extra pair of skilled hands, as his time flying from place to place seems to have given him a broad range of experiences and skills (including figuring out how to get life sized stuffed Yaks into the passenger area of his Ford Tri-motor). He owns at least one aircraft, likely more then that - though he never talks about where his finances come from, he often does do for pay cargo runs and takes charter jobs. 
      He apparently learned to fly from his family - all of whom are either cargo pilots or mechanics living in Australia, and there is some rumor that the entire family has considerable assets. 

Personality: 
      A flyer by nature, Michaels seems to enjoy the idea of flying places where most people would consider it either suicide, difficult, or just plain stupid. He tends to push the limits of his aircraft.  He is responsible, in his own way, but refuses to be tied down to any one geographical area. 
     Some time back his long time girlfriend (who lived in London) and he 'migrated' to Australia to visit his family where they stayed for some time. Michaels returned from his homeland without her - still apparently loyal to her, he's resumed his more adventurous lifestyle, returning home at random times of the year. 
     He tends to believe in overkill vs. using just enough, and will often lay claim to some pretty outrageous events - some of which might have some modicum of truth to them. Some view him as a bit of chaos walking, but others have found him to be very handy to have around. 
     And others view him as a necessary evil, as he'll go places and do things that sane people just out right refuse to do. 

Regular/special gear: 
     Dutch Oven Lids - Dirk and Bruce pioneered the use of the Dutch Oven lid as a primary and critical piece of equipment. Dirk will, in dangerous situations, often have just a single lid on a strap around his neck (he experimented with several possible configurations before deciding it was best to have it where he could move it around). Claiming that the DOI saved him from being split in half, sucked into a whirlpool of death, and was -the- main weapon in stopping and killing an Ice Dragon, he is rarely if ever seen without on. In every aircraft he pilots, he has a dutch oven lid dispenser - most of these dispensers take the form of tall tubes with a feed at the bottom - one larger aircraft has it more akin to a weapons rack, where one could 'clip in' to a lid, and turn away. 

     Dynamite - Dirk is a true Aussie - he has a thing for dynamite (it solves many problems) and keeps a stable and 'safe' crate of the stuff on his aircraft. He is known to wear a vest with sticks laced into it like shotgun shells for quick access. When he does so, he can often be seen either with a lighter on hand, or smoking. 

     Aircraft - Depending on where he is going, Dirk knows how to fly quite a few aircraft, and he will often choose one that fits the situation. He is known to do things most 'sane' pilots would consider impossible (he took a Ford Tri-motor to almost 500 feet above it's maximum operating ceiling - with no apparently ill effects). Most of the craft he owns have the following -somewhere- in them: 
                    Gun locker, often with firearms, but he's known to have several pieces of specialized equipment on hand as 
                                 well, some of which where made by Carl Ellis or others like him. 
                    Dutch Oven Lids
                    A fresh Crate of Dynamite
                    Food. 
                    Clothing (enough that he could live almost indefinitely out of the craft)
                    Various Camping gear (also so he can live out of the aircraft)