Well another year has come and gone with this years Christmas being celebrated by the Club with the traditional Club Competition and members flour bombing followed by the Christmas lunch.
The Christmas lunch was this year catered for by the Club Committee and members and was a great success with some 40 members and ten young guests attending to welcome Father Christmas and join in the festivities. This year Father Christmas decided to arrive from the North Pole by helicopter for a change which caused a great deal of excitement with the children.
I would like to thank Claude for providing Santa's transport this year and June Bairstow for organising the catering and lending the club the salad bar together with the Committee and all of the hard working members who's valuable help made this years celebrations one to be remembered too numerous to mention individuals.
This coming year has the making of another busy one with Club competitions, seminars and Fly-ins organised over the next 6 months so please join in and support your Club.(See the activities programme for details).

Trusting that your Christmas was all you wished for and that the coming year will be a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous one.

DAVE ROSE





COMPETITION WINNER'S SAY...

As Club captain I am not supposed to win competitions but on this occasion I was pleased to do so. It was one of those days when everything seemed to go right even landing on the spot.
Thank to Steve Yeates for air judging, the bombers and other pilots for helping to make this a very pleasant competition.
It would be unkind of me to mention that my flour bomber came last in that part of the comp so I will not mention her name.

Ray Howell .



CLUB CAPTAIN REPORT

The competition for December 2004 was the ever popular Flour Bombing/ spot landing.

Six pilot fronted up for the competition complete with bombers n tow and all took to the air in reasonable flying conditions. With the club instructor in the right hand seat as directed by the CASA approval for the flight required for the exercise.
The idea was for the pilot to fly a circuit and to come down to no less than 100ft to allow the bomber to drop a bag of flour nearest the marked spot on the ground.
The first club member to achieve this was Matt Bignell and the non member closest was Carol Manning who received a bottle of port for her effort.
The pilot then flew a second circuit doing all the necessary checks in the air and landing on a set spot on the ground.
The Winner on the day was the club Captain with Dave Rose second and student pilot Shane croft third.

Next competition will be held on the 13th February when the pilots will fly away from the strip.

Club Captain
Ray Howell





Christmas Lunch at Northam Aero Club

For the 37 adults and 8 kids who attended the lunch at the NAC Club Rooms on Sunday 12 December, a great day of fun and food was had by everyone. It commenced with the usually Club Comp & social only member 'Flour Bombing' exercise [Well done Matt - No competition this year though! - with Joy withdrawing to give you a chance!!] - Followed by FX himself flying 'French Wise' in a R44 helicopter [Thank you, Claude & FX].

Lunch, well organised beforehand by June, who on the day unfortunately had some other commitments, so Mike had to take over as 'Chief', with cook, Les Ballantyne, and Anne, Mary, Dave R & Joy helping with salads and Justin who made scrumptious sweets. The meal was delicious! Thanks guys & gals for your efforts. The day would not as been as perfect without the help of Matt and Dave B clearing and cleaning with Dave R assisting with decorating and setting up - And of course the 'washer-uppers' of Crofty, etc. June managed to get back in time to do the final clean up and packing away at the end of the day - Good timing, June.
This is what NAC is all about - A group of volunteer aviators working together for a fun day for the Club. Thank you to all who attended and special thanks to those who helped to make it such a success.




WESTERN AUSTRALIAN LIGHT AIRCRAFT CHAMPIONSHIPS (W.A.L.A.C.) 2004.

This year W.A.L.A.C. was held at Murrey Field, Mandurah.
The competition consisted of Aerobatic, Formation flying, Streamer cutting, Forced landing and Spot landing events.
The Northam Aero Club this year was represented by Ray Howell and myself both flying in the Forced landing and Spot landing events.
Although we did not win any prizes it was a great days flying and gave us the opportunity to meet up with old friends in aviation and fly the Northam Flag as well as being able to admire some very interesting visiting aircraft.
We hope to organise a larger Northam Aero Club representation for next years W.A.L.A.C. with some pre W.A.L.A.C. practice seminars so let me know if you are interested.

DAVE ROSE






HIRE RATES FOR C172 AIRCRAFT 1/1/2005
Dual Hire ---------- $190 hour
Private Hire ------- $140 hour
TIFs ----------------- $ 70 each
Block Hire for a minimum of 40 hours
To be completed within a 12 month duration from the date of purchase:
*Dual Hire ------- $180 hour
*Private Hire ---- $130 hour

Instructor only
*Pilot provides own aircraft ---- $70 hour

Landing Fees & AirServices Charges:
*Where applicable - These are to be paid by the Pilot or
Student Pilot
Hire of Life Jackets ---- $10 per jacket

We know you will understand that the above increases are due to
rising costs in fuel and the maintenance necessary to keep our
aircraft in the good standard expected of the Northam Aero Club






FLYING ACTIVITY PROGRAMME FOR 2005

February
13th. Monthly Competition.
20th. Sunday Flyers (Rottnest run).

March
13th. Monthly Competition
20th. Cunderdin Air Show

April
10th. Monthly Competition.
24th. Sunday Flyers.

May
8th. Monthly Competition.

June
12th. Monthly Competition.
25th. Annual Dinner