As television prank show pranks go, this one is truly a punch in the guts.

Regardless of your opinion of Hilton, who is best known for reality television programs and nightclub appearances, it's difficult not to sympathise with her in this particularly frightening moment.

The 34-year-old daughter of Hilton hotel heir Rick Hilton was invited to Dubai recently to attend the opening of a new hotel.

At the event she was ushered on board a private plane, ostensibly for a 15-minute aerial tour of the city.

But what followed is genuinely harrowing, and taps into one of the most pervading passenger fears of the modern aviation age.

In fact, the plane was a stunt plane and Hilton and the other passengers were then subjected to a series of stunt turns which made it appear the plane was crashing.

As the plane does steep dives and violent turns, and on-board alarms are sounded, other passengers, clearly planted by the show, panic and scream.

In something that looks more like a scene from a low-budget disaster movie, Hilton clings to her seat in terror, and shrieking in horror.

A clip from the show has been released on YouTube. Many viewers were unimpressed with the prank. 

Prior to boarding the plane, Hilton had indicated she was not comfortable with the idea of flying on it. Despite the chaos on board, Hilton did seem to remain a little calmer than her fellow passengers.

As they shrieked in horror, Hilton screamed out repeatedly "Where is the pilot?" and "Why can't we land?" And at no point did she lose her tight grip on her sunglasses and iPhone.

At one particularly disturbing point in the apparently doomed flight, a passenger opens the plane's rear door, and two passengers are seemingly sucked out.

"Oh my god, no!" Hilton screams as the rear door of the plane is opened.

In the video footage, both of the passengers who are ejected from the flight are clearly wearing parachutes and safety harnesses.

At that point, Hilton, thinking the passengers were evacuating mid-air, shrieks "I don't want to jump, I don't want to jump, I'm not jumping."

The plane then appears to be making an emergency landing on the water, but is in fact merely landing back at the airstrip where it took off.

Once off the plane, a visibly shaken Hilton was told she had been pranked by a program titled Ramez Wakel Elgaw, "Ramez in Control".

The program, which airs on Egyptian television, is hosted by Egyptian actor Ramez Galal.

The show has pulled the "crashing plane" stunt several times in the past, usually with local celebrities.

Hilton's reaction to the stunt was somewhat muted compared to others; a package of clips featuring Lebanese and Egyptian celebrities subjected to the same prank includes video of Galal being assaulted by them after the plane has landed.

Hilton, still in shock, tells Galal that she thought she was going to die.

"I told you I didn't want to go on that plane," Hilton says. "Don't cry. I am so sorry, I am a bad guy," the TV host tells her.

She then asks about the passenger who was ejected from the plane mid-air.

Ramez tries to assure Hilton he is fine. "What do you mean? He was blasted out of the plane?" she responds.

Ramez reveals the prank to Hilton who still appears to be in shock. "I am going to kill you," she says. "That's been my biggest fear my whole life, dying in a plane," she said. "I have never had turbulence like that in my life. I am shaking."

A moment later, and in a somewhat calmer state, Hilton adds: "Dude, this is taking it to another level. "I have seen Punk'd [a US television prank show] but you guys put me in a plane and almost killed me."