About Mandy Hickson

Former RAF Fast-Jet Pilot

Mandy Hickson has over 30 years experience within aviation. She joined the Royal Air Force in 1994 and was a the first woman to fly the Tornado GR4 on the front line, where she operated in hostile environments, including patrolling the ‘No Fly’ zone over Iraq. Since leaving the RAF she retrained as a facilitator and coach in human factors where she draws on her experience of calculated risk-taking, decision-making under pressure and the critical role of the human in the system, to transfer vivid lessons from the cockpit to management and leadership contexts. 

As an Aviation Ambassador for the Department for Transport, Trustee for the Royal Air Force Charitable Trust and Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society she continues to inspire the next generation into STEM related endeavours and into the world of aviation. She continues to foster her adventurous spirit, completing expeditions to the summit of Kilimanjaro and base camp of Everest in recent years.

Mandy is now a highly demanded keynote speaker, where she talks with humour and great passion to inspire those around her. She has been invited to share her insights with some of the most successful organisations across the world where she describes the strategies & behaviours that can be adopted when the stakes are at their highest. She has recently launched her bestselling book, ‘An Officer, not a gentleman’, her inspirational journey to become a pioneering female fighter pilot.