What Is a Fear of Flying Simulator Session Like?
Book two hours with an airline pilot-led team at our Midtown Manhattan studio. Every session opens with a briefing, then you fly. The first hour is in the VR headset: you ride as a passenger while the pilot flies beside you and shows you the flight from the cockpit side, from the plan and the threats pilots watch to turbulence as a pilot sees it. The second hour is hands-on in the G1000 simulator, or you can book both hours in the simulator. You can pause or stop at any point.
What Is a Fear of Flying Simulator Session?
It is one two-hour session with an airline pilot-led team at our Midtown Manhattan studio, booked as one visit. It opens with a briefing: your pilot goes through what worries you and how the simulator works before you fly. How long that takes is up to you. If you have already done a Zoom session your questions are largely answered, and if you have not, your pilot takes the time they need. Then you fly. The first hour is in the VR headset for the passenger view, and the second hour is hands-on in the G1000 simulator; you can also book both hours in the simulator. During the VR hour, your pilot flies from beside you and narrates the trip from the gate through taxi, takeoff, cruise, approach, and landing. You hear each engine, gear, and flap sound as the pilot explains what the airplane is doing. There is nothing for you to operate in the headset. Your pilot shows you the flight the way a pilot sees it, at the pace you set, and you can pause or stop at any point.
- Two hours with an airline pilot-led team, booked as one visit
- A briefing first, as long as your questions need, then you fly
- A passenger hour in the headset followed by a hands-on G1000 hour
- Or both hours in the G1000 simulator, at the same price
- Engine, gear, and flap sounds timed to what the airplane is doing
- Nothing to operate in the VR hour; pause or stop at any point
- Bring one support person to sit with you at no charge
Aviation education from an airline pilot-led team. This is not therapy or medical treatment.
What Does the Pilot Show You in the VR Hour?
Most of what makes flying feel frightening is what a passenger cannot see. In the VR hour you ride as a passenger while an airline pilot flies beside you and shows you the same flight from the cockpit side: the plan, the briefing, what the pilots are watching, and why a bumpy patch is routine. You hear each step explained as it happens, and you can pause or stop at any point.
Altitudes and the plan for the flight
Before the airplane moves, your pilot shows you the plan: the route, the altitudes, and where the flight is expected to be smooth or bumpy. A flight is planned well before anyone boards, and seeing that plan takes a lot of the unknown out of it.
The preflight briefing
Pilots brief every departure before they fly it: who does what, what they expect, and what they will do if something changes. Your pilot walks you through that briefing so you know the decisions were made on the ground, calmly, before takeoff.
The threats a pilot watches that a passenger never sees
Weather along the route, other traffic, the runway in use, the fuel on board. Your pilot shows you what pilots keep an eye on, how far ahead they look, and how much margin is built in long before a passenger would ever notice anything.
Turbulence as a pilot sees it
The simulator's light turbulence already feels like moderate turbulence from the cabin, which is exactly why it is useful. Your pilot shows you what the airplane is doing in it, why the wings are built to flex, and why pilots treat it as routine. Uncomfortable is not the same as unsafe.
What the pilots tell the cabin crew
Before and during a bumpy patch, the pilots tell the cabin crew what to expect, how long it should last, and when to take a seat. Your pilot explains those calls, so a seatbelt sign or a pause in service reads as planning, not alarm.
The second hour is hands-on: you fly the airplane yourself in the G1000 simulator with a flight instructor beside you.
Which Seat Is Right for Your Fear?
Two different fears need two different seats. If what unsettles you is the passenger experience, being strapped in with no control, not knowing what a sound means, feeling the airplane move without being able to see out, then the passenger seat is the one to practice in. If instead your fear is really about control, and you calm down by understanding exactly how the machine works, the pilot seat is the better tool: you fly the airplane yourself in our G1000 simulator with a flight instructor from our airline pilot-led team next to you. After the briefing that opens every session, the two hours can be one in each seat or both in the pilot seat. Many people do both: the passenger view in the headset and hands-on time in the simulator.
- Passenger seat: turbulence, cabin sounds, no visibility, no control
- Pilot seat: you fly it yourself and see how every input works
- Book one hour in each seat, or both hours in the pilot seat
- Many people do both, with the passenger view and pilot seat in one session
Does Practicing Flight Sensations on the Ground Help?
Researchers have studied gradual, controlled practice with flight sensations in virtual reality since the 1990s, and published reviews of that work report encouraging results, including studies that reproduced takeoff, landing and turbulence in a simulator. Our session applies the same underlying idea, familiarity built in small steps, as aviation education rather than as clinical care. What we offer is a flight instructor from our airline pilot-led team who can show you exactly what an airplane is doing and why, in a place where nothing is at stake and you control the pace. We do not diagnose anything, we do not provide therapy, and we make no promises about how any individual will feel afterward.
- We are aviation educators, not clinicians, and we say so plainly
- If your fear involves panic attacks, claustrophobia, or a past traumatic event, work with a licensed therapist; we are glad to work alongside one
- Nothing here is a substitute for medical or psychological care
What Does a Fear of Flying Simulator Session Cost?
One two-hour session, one price, always with an airline pilot-led team. It opens with a briefing, for as long as your questions need, and then you fly. The first hour can be in the headset and the second hands-on in the simulator, or both hours in the simulator. The price is the same either way. There is no operator-only rate, and one support person can sit with you at no charge.
Fear of Flying Simulator Session
2 hours
$430per session
- A briefing first, then hands-on time in the G1000 simulator
- In the VR hour, your pilot flies and narrates
- The pilot's point of view: the plan, the threats pilots watch, and turbulence as a pilot sees it
- Gate to gate with an airline pilot-led team explaining each phase
- Bring one support person to sit with you at no charge
Instructor led only, with no operator-only rate. This is aviation education, not therapy.
Fear of Flying Simulator FAQs
What the session is, what the pilot shows you, and how to book.
Fear of Flying Simulator FAQ
What the session is, how the turbulence levels work, and how to book.
You spend two hours with a flight instructor at our Midtown Manhattan studio, booked as one visit. It opens with a briefing, where your pilot goes through what worries you and how the simulator works, and then you fly. Today, both hours are in the G1000 simulator. Once the VR room opens, the first hour moves into the VR headset as a passenger and the second stays hands-on in the simulator.
- The briefing takes as long as your questions need; if you have already done a Zoom session, most of them are answered
- During the VR hour, your pilot flies beside you and narrates every sound and movement, gate to gate
- Bring one support person to sit with you at no charge
- There is nothing for you to operate in the VR hour
- You can pause or stop at any moment
- The session is not FAA approved, so the time never counts toward any certificate, rating, or currency
No. This is aviation education delivered by flight instructors, not therapy, and we make no claims about how any individual will feel afterward.
- We do not diagnose anything and we are not clinicians
- If your fear involves panic attacks, claustrophobia, or a past traumatic event, work with a licensed therapist
- We are glad to work alongside a therapist you already see
Turbulence runs on a seven-step ladder from Level 0, smooth cruise, to Level 6, a short and entirely optional challenging scenario. Your pilot starts where you are comfortable and moves up or down based on how the session is going.
- Movement comes from real flight-simulation physics, not random shaking
- Level 3 is light turbulence, the kind pilots treat as completely routine
- Level 4 is moderate, where the wings visibly flex and the airplane is still well inside its limits
- Most guests never ask for Level 6, and no session starts there
The two-hour fear of flying session costs $430, always with a flight instructor. Both hours are booked as one visit.
- Sessions are instructor led only, with no operator-only rate
- The price is the same whether both hours are in the G1000 simulator or the first hour is in the VR headset
- One support person can sit with you at no charge
Yes. The VR room is open at our Midtown Manhattan studio, and the VR passenger hour is the first hour of the two-hour session with a flight instructor.
- The second hour is hands-on in the G1000 simulator, after the briefing that opens every session
- You can also book both hours in the G1000 at the same price
- Use the questions form to tell your pilot what worries you before you book
Both can be part of one two-hour session, and many people do both. The passenger view is for practicing the parts of a trip you cannot control. The pilot seat lets you fly the simulator yourself and see how it works.
- The VR hour covers the passenger view, cabin sounds, and turbulence at your pace
- The second hour is hands-on in the G1000 simulator with a flight instructor beside you
- You can also book both hours in the pilot seat, and for many people that is the better fit
Tell Us What Worries You Most
Your answers go to the flight instructor who runs your session, so the two hours start where you are. Tell us what worries you most and what you would like to ask before you book.
Bookable now: two hours with an airline pilot-led team at our Midtown Manhattan studio, opening with a briefing and one support person welcome at no charge. The first hour can be in the headset and the second hands-on in the simulator, or both hours in the simulator. These sessions are aviation education and recreation, not therapy or medical treatment. They are not FAA approved, so simulator time never counts toward any certificate, rating, or currency.