Girl pilot, 12, flies Atlantic

A twelve-year-old girl yesterday followed the flightpath of Amelia Earhart to become the youngest female pilot to cross the Atlantic, writes Marianne Macdonald.

Vicki Van Meter, from Pennsylvania, flew into Glasgow airport on the last 800- mile leg of a transatlantic trip. Her flight in a modified Cessna 210 began in America last Sunday and included stops in Greenland and Iceland. Air regulations dictated she was accompanied by an adult. But her instructor, Curt Arnspiger, sat by as she operated the aircraft herself.

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic in 1932.