Vicki Van Meter, Record Setting Pilot, Dies from Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wound

Vicki Van Meter rose to fame in the mid 1990s for her accomplishments as a young pilot but on Saturday her life came to an end after a self inflicted gunshot wound inside her Meadville, Pennsylvania home. Van Meter was 26.

In 1993 Van Meter piloted a single-engine Cessna 172 from Augusta, Maine to San Diego, California at the age of 11 and less than a year later she crossed the Atlantic when she took off from Augusta and flew to Glasgow, Scotland at the age of 12.

While Van Meter had little trouble flying her battle with depression seemed to be a different story. She had earned a criminal justice degree from Edinboro University in Pennsylvania and later went on to serve two years in the Peace Corps. Most recently she had expressed a desire to attend graduate school to study psychology.

Funeral arrangements for Van Meter have not been finalized.

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