Author/Pilot Uses Aerial Tour To Promote ‘Primal Wounds’ Book

WICHITA—Michaela Renee Johnson has taken a unique approach to promoting the publication of her new book—an aerial book tour flying her 1944 Stinson Reliant, a former World War II trainer that she’s named Scarlett.

Johnson departed California on Sept. 10 on a 7,000 nm. West Coast to East Coast book tour promoting her soon-to-be released book, You’re Not Broken: 7 Primal Wounds—Break the Patterns Keeping You Stuck.

As far as she can tell, Johnson is the first to undertake a book promotion with an aerial tour. At every stop over 35 states, she passes out advanced copies of her book, including a few containing flight trackers.

“The idea is for people to read what they want to read, sign the flight log and then pass it on to someone else who needs it or they think would enjoy it,” Johnson said during a stop in Wichita. As of Sept. 20, Johnson had passed out 70 of 100 books she’s brought along on the tour she calls Wounds to Wings. At that time, she had completed about 50 stops, including one to take part in a podcast in New York’s downtown Manhattan.

“The people who have come out have been incredible,” Johnson said. “Everyone’s been just incredibly welcoming. Can I give you a ride? Can we take you to dinner? People have opened their homes. They’ve brought me cookies and muffins.”

In promoting the book, Johnson blends psychology with her love of flying.

“The idea is that the 7 Primal Wounds book gains its own wings and travels throughout the world by the time it launches,” Johnson said. The book will be available in March 2026.

Johnson’s book, which took three years to write, is based on her doctoral research and 15 years of experience as a therapist in the field. She is a licensed marriage and family therapist with a doctorate in philosophy.

In working with couples, she has seen patterns emerge when couples begin arguing during therapy sessions.

There are themes. “They start as a core belief or a primal wound in childhood, like ‘I’m not good enough,’ and then as a teenager, it becomes ‘I’m never going to be good enough. And then as an adult, we paradoxically pick out people in situations that affirm the narrative,” she says.

The seven themes are: insignificant, inadequate, damaged, incapable, powerless, underserving and outsider.

“It really shapes how you see the world, and it also shapes what you tell yourself how people are engaging with you,” Johnson said. “For example, if you have the ‘incapable’ primal wound, you might be the kind of person who spends a lot of time researching, but other people might think you’re lazy because you’re not getting it done fast enough—or that you’re a procrastinator. If you have the ‘outsider’ primal wound, you might call yourself an introvert and say, ‘I just don’t fit in anywhere that I go.’”

That said, “once you know your primal wound, you can actually turn it into a superpower,” she says. “You can actually twist and pivot this narrative and reframe it.”

She also links her research to aviation.

“Aviation is synonymous with life,” she said, “when you think about being grounded or having to do a go-around in life ... It’s been an interesting plot twist to put aviation with psychology.”

The two are more closely linked when she talks about the FAA’s aeromedical system and how it’s not designed for pilots to receive mental health treatment.

Johnson is now a member of the FAA’s Pilot Mental Health committee, which is undergoing “some pretty big changes in that movement,” she says. “I was kind of outspoken, so that’s how the connection [between aviation and psychology] originally started.”

Johnson earned her private pilot’s license five years ago and has since earned commercial, multi-engine, instrument and seaplane ratings, along with a Tailwheel Airplane Endorsement. She and her co-pilot were winners of the 2023 Air Race Classic.

Johnson flies with her significant other, Andy Bibber, a warbird instructor and aircraft and powerplant mechanic. His skills have come in handy. During the trip, the aircraft has had both a fuel hose and an oil line break.

After serving as a trainer during World War II, the aircraft delivered airmail in Alaska. It’s one of only 25 left in service, she says. Johnson and Bibber purchased the aircraft from a surgeon in the Hamptons and took delivery on July 7.

“We picked up Scarlett, and it’s been fun,” Johnson says. 

Following her stop in Wichita, she and Bibber were on to Dallas, New Mexico, Arizona and then back home to California.