March 18, 2008, 4:11PM
Woman who set flying records at 11, 12 kills self at 26
By RAMIT PLUSHNICK-MASTI
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH — Vicki Van Meter, who made headlines in the 1990s for piloting a plane across the country at age 11 and from the U.S. to Europe at age 12, has died, an apparent suicide. She was 26.
Van Meter died Saturday of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Crawford County coroner said. Her body was found in her Meadville home on Sunday.
Her brother said she battled depression, but her family thought she had been dealing with her problems.
"She was unhappy, but it was hard for her to open up about that and we all thought that she was coping," Daniel Van Meter said. He said she had opposed taking medication.
Van Meter was celebrated in 1993 and 1994 when she made her cross-country and trans-Atlantic flights accompanied only by a flight instructor. Her instructors said she was at the controls during the entirety of both trips.
"If you put your mind to it, you can accomplish anything," Van Meter said before her second trip. In her teens, she said she hoped to become an astronaut when she grew up.
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