you link a video of a non-military pilot dying in a plane crash, neither of which have anything to do with what this post is about. pilots are there to fly, to learn the dials/controls/etc of their specific class of vehicle (and of course situations as bad weather and all that, which are very possible to program into a simulator). the US military could/can/have bought flight simulators that simulate everything down to the trainee sitting in a replica cockpit of a plane. the simulators can be programmed to test the pilot an any situation its programmed to, in which case search and rescue, firefighting training is VERY much possible with a simulator.