Pilots sometimes do show off, if I needed proof it was in the 80's I was flying as a passenger out of an Asian country in their very first airbus. I visited the cockpit (as you could in those days) and the pilot was keen to show me how it handled "like a Spifire" (his words) when he switched the autopilot off. Scared me and I was in the cockpit, the poor passengers behind just didn't know what was happening
nuff said.