MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. -- Today he cut the fuel line. Yesterday, it was an engine failure. Day in and day out he tries to crash helicopters. The government knows his exact location. Yet, he's never been arrested. In fact, it's his job.

With the work of a computer, hundreds to be more specific, Jim Shirk, lead helicopter instructor here, puts helicopter pilots to the test in the CH-46E and the CH-53E weapons systems trainer here.

"Our job here is to take brand new pilots from flight school and teach them how to fly their individual aircraft," said Shirk.

Every helicopter pilot new to Miramar is required to go through the simulator, Shirk said.

New pilots arriving from flight school, receive instruction on helicopter familiarization, instrumentation, advanced flight maneuvers, varying terrain flights, formation flights, external payload flights and flying with night vision goggles.

Climbing up the stairs to enter the simulator, it looks as if it's a ride at a theme park. As a matter of fact, it could be. A local amusement park patterned its simulator theme-ride after Miramar's flight simulators, according to Shirk.

One look inside the approximately $25 million simulator, one can see it's not for entertainment. Furnished with the exact instrumentation used in the actual helicopters, it combines reality with computers, immersing the pilots into a world of realistic sounds, sights and movements for split second decision-making, Shirk said. The entire course of instruction is taught hands-on in this computer-designed world.

The six-week course hones pilot reactions when something goes wrong in the aircraft. This is accomplished, Shirk said, by a computer display-screen listing pages of malfunctions the instructor can execute with the push of a button.

By presenting pilots with malfunction scenarios, the simulator helps their reaction to emergencies become second nature.

"We help the pilots conquer the fear of the unknown by presenting them with every possible malfunction that could happen on that aircraft," he added. "If they've done it in the simulator, it becomes instinct."

The course schedule varies with each student, but in order to become a helicopter co-pilot, or H2P, pilots must pass 10 flights in the simulator, said Bob Eberly, simulator manager.

Both helicopter simulators are dual piloted (every movement made on the left side of the cockpit also moves the right side) making the student to teacher ratio 2-to-1. This is very helpful during the training, Eberly said.

"If a pilot is having trouble, (the instructors) can sit in the cockpit and say 'let me help you,' and fly the maneuver with them," Shirk said.

Simulator training is not only beneficial to the pilots themselves, but to the entire air crew as well, Shirk believes.

"That 19-year-old (private first class) riding in the back of the helicopter can trust his pilots because they already have more than 300 flight hours in the sim," Shirk said.

A database of computers, spreading throughout a room nearly the size of a basketball court, controls everything the pilot sees. Computers control all the pilot's surroundings during the flights, Eberly said.

"There is no delay or lag," he said. "we have a near snap-shot of the entire west coast. With the push of a button, they are there instantly."

Even with all the possible scenarios and computer technology, the training could not be accomplished without qualified instructors.

"I like the fact that our instructors have so much experience, " said 1st Lt. Christian M. Robertson, HMH-361 CH-53E pilot. "(Their instruction) gives me a lot of confidence in flying the aircraft."Instructors are usually all civilian-contracted but have served as Marine or Naval aviators in the past, said Max Kitch, retired Navy lieutenant commander, now a helicopter co-pilot instructor here.

"I won't put them through a scenario that I haven't experienced myself," said Kitch. "I've got (more than) 2,500 hours of flight time, I've been in almost every possible situation in a helicopter."

Beyond all safety benefits of simulator flying, the trainers are much more cost effective than actual helicopters.

"An aircraft may cost $2,000 per hour to fly, and the simulator might cost $200," Eberly stated. "But is definitely not a substitute for actual flying time."

The simulators go through periodic changes in equipment but are upgraded in the same manner as actual aircraft, Eberly noted. Once the aircraft becomes obsolete, the simulator will as well, but one thing will remain constant the instructors.

It's safe to say with all the near-crash experiences and "blinking red screens of death" they have had over the years, they live their lives on the edge ... the cutting edge of technology.