The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between empowering leadership, directive leadership, safety communication, and safety behavior. Also, we examined whether safety motivation had a moderated mediating effect on this relationship. We collected the surveys from 343 combat pilots of the Republic of Korea Air Force for the analysis. Our structural equation modeling analysis revealed that there was a positive relationship between empowering leadership and safety behavior, and safety communication fully mediated the relationship. However, there is no relationship between directive leadership and safety behavior. Also, our results showed that safety motivation moderated the relationship between empowering leadership and safety communication, but not the relationship between directive leadership and safety communication. Furthermore, the relationship between empowering leadership and safety behavior through safety communication varied significantly with the degree of safety motivation, such that the higher the safety motivation, the higher the impact of empowering leadership on safety behavior through safety communication. Finally, we discussed the implications of these results, study limitations, and practical suggestions for future research.