[5] On September 20, 1993, at the age of 11, she made headlines when she flew from Augusta, Maine, to San Diego, California, in a Cessna 172.

[12] Pursuant to the Federal Aviation Reauthorization Act of 1996 signed into law by President Bill Clinton on October 9, 1996, after the death of Jessica Dubroff, it is no longer legal in the United States (under 49 USC § 44724) to attempt to set records as a student pilot, which effectively means that some of the records set by Van Meter will never be broken by an American.

[13] Van Meter 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.

[1] Van Meter died at her home in Meadville, Pennsylvania, on March 15, 2008, from a self-inflicted gunshot wound at the age of 26.