Yeah, in the Su-27 Flanker that is exactly what it is. You change the flight controls to direct control so you can do things that will put the airplane in an unsafe condition. I think it's a switch in the Flanker as well.

In jets like the F-22 Raptor it will just "cobra" with stick input. They will dump the wing controls automatically to unload the wings, and use thrust vectoring to reach absurd angles of attack. The F-18 Hornet uses a paddle switch which will increase the G-limiter and allow spin recovery.