Vicki Van Meter

Victoria " Vicki " Van Meter ( born March 13, 1982 in Meadville, Pennsylvania; † 15 or March 16, 2008 ibid ) was one of the youngest ever female pilots. At age ten she first flew an airplane.

As an eleven year old she made 1993 headlines when she (California ) flew over from 20 to 23 September, the United States of Augusta (Maine ) to San Diego in the more difficult because of winds east-west direction in a Cessna 172. So it was at the time the youngest woman who had flown across the United States and also the youngest driver to have managed in an east-west direction. Although her flight instructor Bob Baumgartner was on board, navigated and flew them independently. In June 1994, she flew in a Cessna 210 over the Atlantic to Scotland with stops in Canada, Greenland and Iceland. She died at the age of 26 in Meadville by a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Works

• Taking Flight: My Story. Viking Children's Books, 1995, ISBN 0,670,862,606th (together with Dan Gutman )

Swell

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