Pilot prodigy, Victoria “Vicki” Van Meter, 26, who piloted a light aircraft across the US and the Atlantic Ocean at age 11 and 12, respectively, died of an apparent suicide on 15 March at her home in Pennsylvania.

 

Van Meter made headlines in 1993 when the sixth grader and a flight instructor flew a Cessna 172 from Maine to San Diego. The following year she flew from Maine to Scotland.

 

Though accompanied by a flight instructor on the flights, both had said in media reports that the aspiring aviator was at the controls the entire time.

Van Meter, who had hoped during her teens to become an astronaut, later earned a college degree in criminal justice and spent two years with the Peace Corps in Moldova, according to a report in Associated Press.  

She co-authored a book about her trips, published in 1995.

 

Source: FlightGlobal.com

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