Victoria Van Meter

Victoria "Vicki" Van Meter (born March 13, 1982 in Meadville , Pennsylvania ; † March 15 or 16, 2008 there ) was one of the youngest female pilots to date . She first flew an airplane when she was ten.

At the age of eleven, she made headlines in 1993 when she flew over the USA from Augusta (Maine) to San Diego ( California ) in a Cessna 172 from September 20 to 23, in the east-west direction, which is more difficult because of the winds . At that time she was the youngest woman who had flown across the USA and at the same time the youngest pilot who succeeded in doing this in an east-west direction. Although her flight instructor Bob Baumgartner was on board, she navigated and flew independently. In June 1994, she flew in a Cessna 210 across the Atlantic to Scotland with stops in Canada, Greenland and Iceland. She died in Meadville at the age of 26 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The coroner's report found her death to be suicide.

Works

Taking Flight: My Story . Viking Children's Books, 1995, ISBN 0670862606 . (in cooperation with Dan Gutman)

swell

Against the Wind, Girl Is Trying to Fly From Coast to Coast - The New York Times (English)

Individual evidence

↑ Ramit Plushnick-Masti: Record-setting young pilot dies at the 26th Associated Press, March 18, 2008, archived from the original on March 20, 2008 ; Retrieved on May 24, 2011 (English, death report stating the date of death March 15, 2008): "Van Meter died Saturday and her body was found [...] on Sunday."
↑ ^a ^b Jim Carroll: Ex-child pilot Van Meter dies at home. In: goerie.com. The Erie Times-News March 18, 2008, archived from the original December 30, 2008 ; Retrieved on May 24, 2011 (English, death report stating the date of death March 16, 2008): "A report by Crawford County Coroner Patrick McHenry stated she died at 11 pm Sunday"
↑ Michael D. Kilian: Aerial Sports: Year In Review 1993. In: Britannica Book of the Year, 1994. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 1994, accessed May 24, 2011 .

personal data
SURNAME	Van Meter, Victoria
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Van Meter, Vicky
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American pilot
DATE OF BIRTH	March 13, 1982
PLACE OF BIRTH	Meadville, Pennsylvania
DATE OF DEATH	March 15, 2008 or March 16, 2008
Place of death	Meadville, Pennsylvania

[Plushnick-Masti-1] Ramit Plushnick-Masti: Record-setting young pilot dies at the 26th Associated Press, March 18, 2008, archived from the original on March 20, 2008 ; Retrieved on May 24, 2011 (English, death report stating the date of death March 15, 2008): "Van Meter died Saturday and her body was found [...] on Sunday."

[Carroll-2] Jim Carroll: Ex-child pilot Van Meter dies at home. In: goerie.com. The Erie Times-News March 18, 2008, archived from the original December 30, 2008 ; Retrieved on May 24, 2011 (English, death report stating the date of death March 16, 2008): "A report by Crawford County Coroner Patrick McHenry stated she died at 11 pm Sunday"

[britannica-3] Michael D. Kilian: Aerial Sports: Year In Review 1993. In: Britannica Book of the Year, 1994. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 1994, accessed May 24, 2011 .