Military helicopter pilot Kate Munari tells women of Kalgoorlie-Boulder to back themselves

Australia’s only female navy helicopter pilot to fly in the Afghanistan conflict has told Kalgoorlie-Boulder women to back themselves, learn from failure, communicate clearly and trust the people around them.

Kate Munari spent 17 years flying helicopters for the military in Australia, the United Kingdom, Germany, Cyprus, Kenya and Afghanistan.

The veteran lieutenant shared her story with more than 300 women at Kalgoorlie-Boulder Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s women’s leadership forum last Friday at Central Regional TAFE.

Ms Munari said she was about to land a helicopter of 16 troops in Afghanistan when she received intelligence it had been targeted by the enemy, and she had 10 seconds to decide what to do.

“Suddenly, the Apache (helicopter gunship) comes over the radio to tell us that our airborne warning aircraft have picked up enemy radio chatter about our helicopter,” she said.

“I had to make a very quick decision: do we continue or not? Do I take my crew, my troops, and my helicopter into a potentially deadly situation, or do I take the safe option and turn around?”

Avoiding a potentially deadly situation might seem like a no-brainer, but Ms Munari said the military would never get anything done if they turned around every time they were faced with a threat.

“I had less than 10 seconds to make this decision — those 10 seconds were the most intense 10 seconds of my life,” she said.

“I’ve never felt my heart race so much . . . I made the decision to continue for our landing.”

Ms Munari said she used “situational awareness” to quickly make an informed choice.

“I knew that these radio transmissions are often not able to be pinpointed to an exact location . . . I also knew the enemy’s limitations in terms of the weapons that were available to them,” she said.

“We had built up a very detailed intelligence picture over the weeks we’d been in Afghanistan . . . and we knew that the enemy would not focus on helicopters.

“I thought about the mission, the reason we were out there, and we were out there to relieve troops who’d been under heavy enemy contact for days. The mission was crucial.”

Ms Munari said she spoke aloud to her team as she was making her decision.

“So we continued. We went in. We made our approach, and we landed . . . and we made a very quick departure. And my heart had never beaten so fast in all my life.”

Ms Munari said she had to back herself, learn from failure, communicate clearly and trust her team.

“Whether you’re flying in Afghanistan into a landing zone, or whether it’s a team in any workplace, those principles are still the same,” she said.

“Challenges will come, pressure will come . . . but if you focus on what you can control, you value the people around you, and you keep moving forward, you’ll give yourselves and your team the best chance of success.”

The pilot said a “challenge mindset” had been fundamental to her success.

“I view everything in life as a challenge, so rather than viewing it as a problem, I view it as a challenge to overcome,” she said.

“By treating failure as a learning opportunity, it lessens that negative impact that you often get with failure, and it keeps you focused on your end goal and moving forward.”

Ms Munari said effective communication helped her create a safe environment where she could get the best out of her team.

“Communication is fundamental to collaboration, and thus fundamental to the success of any team,” she said.

“Everyone’s style is going to be different . . . my style of communication is made up of four pillars, and that’s being direct, being honest, being respectful and being kind.”