D'pirate, in all fairness he wrote those SOPs for the "Average" Pilot to follow, SOPs are written so that if followed correctly the Average Pilot will have a successful outcome the vast majority of the time.
It sounds as if the Pilot in question though is highly experienced, if it's the Cameron I'm thinking of then indeed he is VERY highly experienced and knew of a method that would have a successful outcome and conducted it as such. Perhaps it is a method that he knows can be successfully done but would be too risky to teach to others, that would be risk mitigation.
It would be equally ridiculous for him, with his knowledge and experience, to follow the SOPs that would perhaps have led to a lesser outcome.