Pride before a fall. A colleague of mine at one of the previous companies I worked for had been the chief pilot at the Empire Test Pilot School. Now he really was "ahead of the curve
I once commented when working and flying as a Flight Test Observer at Boscombe Down, that a particular Test Pilot was about 5 seconds ahead of the aeroplane, whilst I in the back seat was about 5 seconds behind it. One of the ETPS instructors who had trained him said "You are only 10 seconds behind HIM - you must be good! "
I do agree in general terms, the pilots happy they're on top of the flying task and ahead of the aeroplane, are generally not fully appreciating the situation.
G