If the pilot was conducting a post maintenance flight check; [as suggested by gullibell #20] I would suggest a very poor chain of command. In the real world the Chief Pilot would conduct such checks, and for a very good reason. Mentoring is a vital part of gaining experience and I would have thought that the pilot in this case should have been under instruction.
What does the Company Ops manual have to say in regards to post maintenance check flights? Whom should be conducting said checks etc. Fleet captain, fleet manager ? In the company I work for any request for an engineering flight comes in writing with a specific understanding of what is expected and how the flight shall be conducted, and to achieve what outcome. Makes the Insurance company smile!
It is extremely easy to undo a decade of hard work, in five rushed minutes; tends to make clients rather nervous.