That pilot was a very experienced one, Paul Mantz, co-owner of Tallmantz Aviation, one of Hollywood's premier aviation shops of the time, 1965. I would dispute that "it would NOT work", as it did work for much of the movie. The crash came from a too-low pass that dragged on the ground and over-stressed the specially designed movie-use airplane so that it structurally failed when Mantz tried to power up for altitude afterwards.
The aircraft fuselage broke right behind the cockpit.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n82nN_lqn58