Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

pilot error
     
         ({Sun}, from aviation) A user's misconfiguration or
        misuse of a piece of software, producing apparently {bug}-like
        results.
     
        E.g. "Joe Luser reported a bug in sendmail that causes it to
        generate bogus headers."  "That's not a bug, that's pilot
        error.  His "sendmail.cf" is hosed."
     
        Compare {UBD}.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1994-12-05)