Vicki Van Meter

{{Infobox person

|name=Vicki Van Meter

|image=Vicki Van Meter.jpg

|alt=

|caption=Van Meter, 11, leaving on her cross-country flight on September 20, 1993.

|birth_date={{birth date|1982|3|13}}

|birth_place=Meadville, Pennsylvania, U.S.

|death_date={{death date and age|2008|3|15|1982|3|13}}

|death_place=Meadville, Pennsylvania, U.S.

|alma_mater=Edinboro University of Pennsylvania

|occupation=Aviator

|known for=Long-distance flying as a child pilot

|website=[http://vickivanmeter.com/ Official website]

}}

Victoria Louise Van Meter (March 13, 1982 – March 15, 2008) was an American aviator. She was known for setting several distance-flying records for child pilots. At the age of 11, she became the youngest pilot to fly east to west across the continental United States of America, and the youngest female pilot to cross in either direction.

{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7D91E38F932A1575AC0A965958260|title=Against the Wind, Girl Is Trying to Fly From Coast to Coast|work=The New York Times|date=1993-09-21|access-date=2008-03-18}}

{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/7259/Aerial-Sports-Year-In-Review-1993|title=Aerial Sports: The year in review|year=1993|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|access-date=2011-04-17}}

[http://www.dot.state.mn.us/aero/aved/pdf/history&physics.pdf The History and Physics of Flight], Minnesota Department of Transportation Office of Aeronautics p. 7 . Retrieved 2008-03-18.

Early life

Van Meter first manipulated the controls of an airplane at the age of 10.{{cite news|last=Lawson|first=Carol|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=950DEFD91730F93BA15757C0A962958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all| title=At Home With: Vicki Van Meter; Apple Pie And Afterburners|work=The New York Times|date=April 28, 1994|access-date=2008-03-18}} On September 20, 1993, at the age of 11, she made headlines when she flew from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego, California, in a Cessna 172. A year later, she flew a Cessna 210{{cite news|last=Walsh|first=Lawrence|title=Pilot, age 12, takes off today to cross the sea|date=1994-07-05|access-date=2008-03-18|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|url=http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/08078/866087-85.stm}} over the Atlantic Ocean to Scotland.

{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|url=http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08078/866086-100.stm|title=Pilot who flew cross-country at age 11 commits suicide|date=2008-03-18|work=Pittsburgh Post-Gazette|access-date=2008-03-18 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080322203639/http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08078/866086-100.stm |archive-date = March 22, 2008}}

She visited the White House and appeared on The Tonight Show.{{cite book|last=Van Meter|first=Vicki|title=Taking Flight: My Story By Vicki Van Meter|year=1995|publisher=Viking Juvenile|isbn=0-670-86260-6|page=[https://archive.org/details/takingflightmyst00vanm/page/96 96]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/takingflightmyst00vanm/page/96}}

Soon after her European flight Van Meter gave up flying.Byers, Lisa, Honoring and inspiration, The Meadville Tribune, September 18, 2009, page A10

In 2003, Van Meter was featured with 36 other female pilots in the traveling exhibit Women and Flight — Portrait of Contemporary Women Pilots,{{cite news|url=http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/9-12/features/cent_of_flight_news.html|title=Woman Aviators Exhibit to Open at Wright Brothers National Memorial|publisher=First Flight Centennial|date=2003-12-03|access-date=2008-03-18}} based on a book of the same name by Carolyn Russo.*{{cite book|last=Russo|first=Carolyn|title=Women and Flight: Portrait of Contemporary Women Pilots|publisher=Bulfinch Press|date=April 1997|location=United States|isbn=0-8212-2168-X|page=[https://archive.org/details/womenflightportr0000russ/page/192 192]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/womenflightportr0000russ/page/192}}

Pursuant to the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996 signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 9, 1996, after the death of Jessica Dubroff, it is no longer legal in the United States (under 49 USC § 44724) to attempt to set records as a student pilot, which effectively means that some of the records set by Van Meter will never be legally broken by an American.{{cite web|url=http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bills/104/hr3539 |title=H.R. 3539 [104th]: Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996 |publisher=GovTrack.us |access-date=2010-12-04}}

Personal life

Van Meter served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova after graduating from Edinboro University with a degree in criminal justice. She worked as an insurance-company investigator and had made plans to pursue graduate studies.{{cite news|last=Plushnick-Masti|first=Ramit|url=https://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080318/ap_on_re_us/obit_van_meter|title=Record-setting young pilot dies at 26|agency=Associated Press|date=2008-03-18|access-date=2008-03-18 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080320021516/http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080318/ap_on_re_us/obit_van_meter |archive-date = March 20, 2008}}

Death

Van Meter died at her home in Meadville, Pennsylvania, on March 15, 2008, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 26. Her suicide surprised her family, who believed that she had been coping with her depression.{{cite news|url=http://meadvilletribune.com/local/x681029664/Noted-pilot-Vicki-Van-Meter-dies|title=Noted pilot Vicki Van Meter dies|work=The Meadville Tribune|date=2008-03-18|access-date=2008-03-18}}{{cite news|last=Carroll|first=Jim|url=http://www.goerie.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080318/NEWS05/803180333/-1/NEWS|title=Ex-child pilot Van Meter dies at home|work=Erie Times-News|date=2008-03-18|access-date=2008-03-18}}