Confronting your worst fear is nearly impossible if you're afraid of flying and won't go near an airport.
Long Island resident Bernadette Cioch worked with emergency crews after the crash of TWA flight 800 and the images have haunted her since.
"Through that, my fear of flying became so paramount that I would not get on a plane," she explained.
That fear brought Cioch to Hofstra University's virtual reality lab.
With a special headset she is transported to the place she fears most.
A computer program replicates the entire airport experience.
With the help of a trained therapist patients like Bernadette confront it all.
"It's like the person riding the horse, you have to get back on if you are thrown off," said clinic director Dr. Mitchell Schare. "People imagine much worse situations than typically happen...and the more they experience something like flying in our treatment room, the easier it will be on a real flight."
It's so real the chair shakes and the patient sees flashes of lightning as the program mimics storms and turbulence.
Shortly after signing up for the program patients must book some type of airplane flight.
Officials say it's a key because it gives patients something to shoot for as they face their fears.
Bernadette is one of 80 patients to come through the program.
Her first flight in 12 years was to see her son in Hawaii.
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