It's the end of one era and the start of another with the formal merger of two Whangarei-based flying clubs.
The Northern Districts Aero Club (NDAC), which has been around since 1928, will merge with the Whangarei Flying Club, around since the early 1980s, in a function at the GrandThai restaurant next Wednesday, with the handing over of a cheque for more than $100,000.
The new club was called the Whangarei Flying Club, incorporating Northland Districts Aero Club, or just the Whangarei Flying Club for short, spokesman Shaun Sutherland said.
The money was from the sale of the NDAC's assets and would be formally handed to the new club's president, Bob Foster, by NDAC immediate past- president, John Shaw.
Mr Sutherland said the clubs actually merged last year, but the money had been held in trust until all the necessary paperwork was done and Wednesday's handover would be the formal beginning of the new club.
There are two types of flying, general aviation and recreational aviation, which focuses on microlight planes and is carried out at the Whangarei Flying Club.
Far more people were getting into microlight flying and the merger made for a far stronger presence in that area. And with about 90 members, the new club would be possibly the cheapest place to learn how to fly in the country, Mr Sutherland said.
The club owns two planes at its hanger, based at Whangarei Airport, at Onerahi, and leases the planes to its members or other pilots.
