Record-setting young pilot dies at 26

On Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:46:04 -0500, Gig 601XL Builder
wrote:

Did she ever go on to get her license in the first place. There is only
one person with the last name Van Meter in data base and his was issued
in 1955.

That's interesting. When I searched the FAA Airmans database, it
returned over 50 records, but none in the USA with a first name
beginning with 'Vic'. The V VAN METER you found

VERNON HOWARD VAN METER
DOI: 7/19/1955
Certificate: PRIVATE PILOT
Rating(s):
PRIVATE PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
DOI: 4/25/1955
Certificate: MECHANIC
Rating(s):
MECHANIC
AIRFRAME
POWERPLANT


isn't her father; his name is Jim. But there are two Van Meter
records in Pennsylvania:

ELGIN VAN METER
DOI: 7/19/1955
Certificate: PRIVATE PILOT
Rating(s):
PRIVATE PILOT
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE LAND
AIRPLANE SINGLE ENGINE SEA



ROBIN VAN METER
DOI: 11/26/2004
Certificate: FLIGHT ATTENDANT
Rating(s):
FLIGHT ATTENDANT
GROUPII

It's interesting that Vernon and Elgin both had their certificates
issued on the same day. Perhaps that's just an epoch date for the
database?

JFK Jr's record is still in the database, so it's not an issue of the
records of the deceased being purged. An applicant for an airplane
student pilot certificate must be 16, so Vicki had no certificate when
she made her record setting flights. But she was honored as a pilot:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vicky_van_Meter
In 2003 she was featured with 36 other female pilots in the
traveling exhibit Women and Flight — Portrait of Contemporary
Women Pilots.[9][10], based on a book of the same name by Carolyn
Russo.[11]

She served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Moldova after graduating
from Edinboro University with a degree in criminal justice. She
worked as an insurance company investigator and had made plans to
pursue graduate studies.[6] Van Meter died at her home in
Meadville on March 15, 2008 from a self-inflicted gunshot
wound.[1] Her death surprised her family who believed she had been
coping with her depression. She was 26.


Photo:
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08078/866086-100.stm
Vicki Van Meter at 12.
She was also one of 37 pilots featured in "Women and Flight --
Portraits of Contemporary Women Pilots," a traveling exhibition
now showing at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.


I guess you'll have to read her book (or ask her flight instructor Bob
Baumgartner) to see if she ever earned her airmans certificate:

http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Flight-...dp/0670862606/