Leading Like a Pilot and How Navigating in Helicopters Taught Me Better Leadership Navigation
- Brainz Magazine
- Aug 21
- 4 min read
Written by Liz Galloway, PR Specialist
Liz Galloway is the founder of Brand Sanity Media and The Well Mind Project, where she blends storytelling and marketing to create impactful campaigns. Liz is also a travel journalist, podcaster, TV host, and extreme adventure enthusiast.
Whether you’re in the pilot seat of a helicopter or leading a boardroom, tech panel, or global campaign, you assess your surroundings with all of your senses. You check your instruments, assess the risks, calculate your route and outcomes, and call for takeoff clearance. Small decisions can shape the entire trajectory of what comes next, just like in leadership. While building a career in international luxury, tourism, and consulting, I was learning to fly helicopters. In doing so, I began to understand the kind of leader I wanted to become and learned skills I would later carry into media, business, events, and the brands I help guide today.
Each flight was a lesson in control, awareness, and perspective, skills that would later shape the MRT foundation of my leadership approach and the clarity I bring to every business challenge.
In aviation safety, there is a saying: “Aviate, navigate, communicate,” which translates to business as: “Focus, plan, then speak.” It’s not just about reacting when things go wrong. It’s about proactive thinking, training, planning, and maintaining situational awareness to avoid unnecessary turbulence in the first place.
Let’s be honest: the entrepreneurial journey isn’t always smooth flying. Whether navigating PR crises, client demands, or investor meetings, some decisions feel like they’re being made at high-speed altitude."
Decisions from the cockpit
On one vivid solo training flight, it was just me and an R22 helicopter on a flight between two local airports to run patterns. These are the kinds of flights student pilots take to learn navigation, radio communication, and airport approach patterns. You follow a structured “box” in the sky, upwind, crosswind, downwind, base, final, repeating this circuit for muscle memory and skill.
That day, I’d checked aviation weather reports, assessed winds, and had done my pre-flight meticulously. But once airborne, I encountered unexpected gusts above my rotorcraft's wind rating. Once at the next airport, coming around my base leg for final, I felt a sudden shift, an abrupt updraft pushing me into an almost nose-high attitude, flirting with a rotor stall.
In a helicopter, you don’t stall like a fixed-wing aircraft. But you can stall your rotor system, meaning the airflow over the blades no longer generates lift. And at low altitude, you don’t have time to philosophize. You have one job: correct or drop.
My senses were heightened. Every detail slowed. I felt the pressure shift. My hands instinctively nudged the cyclic forward to dive slightly, regaining translational lift and increasing rotor RPM to stop a rotor stall. I had seconds to either hesitate and fall or decide and get back on track.
I dove forward toward the ground, added airspeed, and adjusted my pattern mid-flight. I improvised a safe circuit and came back around, this time holding a stabilized pattern. After checking fuel, I began to head back to my home airport.
On final airport descent, with winds still above my rating and an anxious flight instructor on the tarmac, I felt the crosswinds and knew I had to land in a controlled slide. Rather than nose-first, I let the skids settle down with a sideways drift, keeping my tail rotor out of the wind and avoiding a spin. Touchdown was complete. I could release my breath and came out with a smile. I cooled down the engine, shut down the systems, and exhaled.
That flight taught me to trust myself and think quickly. I bring critical thinking, trust, and leadership into my work. Some things are felt in your gut, forged in your instincts, and proven by your ability to adapt mid-flight or mid-business.
Risk assessment is a superpower
In aviation, risk is calculated, not avoided. Similarly, successful leaders don’t run from risk. They assess it, mitigate it, and decide whether the reward justifies the exposure.
Research from McKinsey & Company shows that companies with strong risk management practices are 1.5 times more likely to achieve revenue growth above their peers. But here’s the key: that risk culture starts with leadership. Flying taught me that confidence isn’t about being fearless; it’s about being prepared.
I’ve carried that into various challenges and situations, leading multi-million-dollar travel and hospitality brands, founding a nonprofit, and working in multiple fast-paced areas and large-scale productions. Most successful brands use a “readiness” plan and strategic planning flow, much like a flight checklist, to evaluate revenue, cost, opportunity, partnerships, or campaigns with strategic foresight.
Leadership in action
When you’re flying, there’s no multitasking. You're fully present, listening to rotor RPMs, watching your instruments, monitoring altitude, and adjusting trim. That sense of “presence under pressure” is exactly what we need in modern leadership.
I use that pilot’s mindset daily: breathe, assess, decide, correct. Whether I'm managing a PR crisis, negotiating a brand partnership, or mentoring women in business, I rely on those same principles.
And when the mission’s over? You return to base. Just like in flight, you debrief, recalibrate, and prepare for the next journey.
Every flight has a purpose. So does every career pivot, every client campaign, every event, every press trip, every retreat, or publication.
My advice? Learn to trust your instincts. Build your checklists and be prepared to pivot and pivot again. And when the winds shift, adjust and rise again.
Whether you’re landing a helicopter in a crosswind or launching your next big idea in business, leadership isn’t about perfection; it’s about presence, perspective, and the courage to make split-second decisions when it matters most.
Liz Galloway, PR Specialist
Liz Galloway is a dynamic Creative Director, PR Specialist, and media professional with over 20 years of experience in brand strategy, luxury travel, wellness, and adventure. As the founder of Brand Sanity Media and The Well Mind Project, she blends storytelling, marketing, and sustainability to create impactful campaigns for high-profile clients, and is a travel journalist, podcast producer, and adventure enthusiast.
