He knows well how to fly it, but he's a maverick if you will who likes to do thinks his own way, sure he could have it landing perfectly everytime but where's the fun in that, he has a flair for the dramatic, and the noise to him signals his arrival.
I doubt that river just figured out how to fly the thing by looking at it, she's mentioned before she was thought by the master i.e the doctor so they must have gotten really close for him to allow her to fly it.
I'll reserve judgement on her until we get more screen time between her and the doctor, tho i have a bad feeling he'll rush it and that dynamic will take a back seat over other things i.e amys' positive/negative results