A visit from a NASA employee to her third grade class is what initially sparked Victoria “Vicki” Van Meter’s passion for aviation. Though she made headlines flying airplanes, she would always tell friends and family that becoming an astronaut was the ultimate goal. A couple years after that NASA visit, Vicki’s dad saw a sign-up sheet for a new flight school near their hometown of Meadville, Pennsylvania, and asked Vicki if she’d be interested. She immediately said yes, which is where her journey began.
Vicki and her flight instructor, Dick Willis, made her first cross-country flight in 1993, from Maine to San Diego, California when Vicki was 11. A year later, Vicki and her flight instructor broke another record, flying from Maine to Glasgow, Scotland in a Cessna 210, stopping in Newfoundland, Greenland and Iceland along the way. After completing these flights, Vicki made numerous television appearances, spoke to elementary school students about her experiences, and was even invited to the White House. At the time, however, she wasn’t focused on breaking any records or getting national recognition.
“It’s a great challenge,” Vicki said, “but I’m confident I can do it.” As is the case with most 12-year-olds, Vicki’s biggest concern before the transcontinental flight was boredom. “Over water, there’s nothing to look at,” Vicki said very matter-of-factly.
In 1996, just two years after Vicki’s record-breaking trans-Atlantic flight, another young female pilot named Jessica Dubroff attempted to become the youngest person ever to fly a light utility aircraft across the United States. The quest ended in a horrible accident when Dubroff, her father and her flight instructor were all killed in a crash caused by a rainstorm. President Clinton signed a bill shortly thereafter making it illegal for student pilots to attempt to break any records, effectively meaning that Van Meter’s record will never be broken.
Vicki’s own triumphant story took a devastating turn, as well. In 2008, Vicki committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 26 at her home in Pennsylvania. Her family knew she struggled with depression, but assumed she had been coping successfully.
Today, Vicki is featured with 36 other female pilots in the exhibit Women and Flight — Portrait of Contemporary Women Pilots that calls the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. home, and is available on Amazon.
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