Harley Lenart’s passion for aviation began as a child growing up in a military and law enforcement family. While Harley pursued other dreams first, like becoming a police officer, these endeavors prepared her for the challenging yet rewarding goal of becoming a pilot. Harley was a patrol officer for seven years. During that time, she became a designated marksman and a member of the swift water rescue team. For the past five years, Harley has been at a statewide law enforcement agency that focuses on specialized investigations. She is assigned to the child sexual abuse unit. Her ultimate goal is to earn a full-time pilot position in her law enforcement agency’s aviation unit. Currently, she is a part-time Tactical Flight Officer, or sensor operator, assisting with surveillance and search missions by providing a helpful eye from the sky. When Harley achieves her goal, she will be the first female pilot at her current law enforcement agency in Tennessee. 

Harley earned her fixed-wing PPL in May of 2024. One accomplishment she is very proud of is that she took her check-ride at 45 hours. Harley will use this scholarship to pursue her instrument rating which will put her one step closer to permanently transferring to the aviation unit. After that, she intends to earn her commercial rating. Another goal of Harley’s is to eventually earn a rotorcraft add-on rating. In the future, potentially after she retires, Harley would love to expand her service of flight from law enforcement to emergency medical transport to continue to use flying as a means of helping others when they need it most. Like when she needed a medevac lift herself.

In May of 2022, Harley’s dream of flying nearly ceased. She went from flying through the sky on two wheels to almost never leaving the ground again. Harley’s hobby that helped her decompress from the stresses of policing was racing motocross. She was involved in a very bad accident during a race and suffered 26 broken bones, a punctured lung, and a lacerated liver. She was hospitalized for several days in the ICU and was unsure what her life would look like from now on. Since then, she has had several surgeries and spent hundreds of hours in physical therapy. She has never gone through anything more physically or mentally challenging. Harley was fortunate to return to soaring through the sky… not on dirt bikes anymore… but in airplanes. Flying has become Harley’s new outlet. She hopes her story of perseverance inspires others to constantly dream, adapt and overcome adversity. The Dare to Dream scholarship reinforces the importance of never giving up hope.

Harley earned a Master of Arts from the Naval Postgraduate School and recently graduated with her Ph.D. in criminal justice from Liberty University. Harley inspires to blaze a path forward for young women to follow, especially towards predominantly male-dominated careers. 

Outside of flying and work, Harley loves to hunt deer, ducks, and turkeys and spending time outdoors with her German Shepherd, Van Helsing.