Will be in the cape next week in Eastham. Anybody know of any good fields in the area where I can fly my Golberg Mirrage. Thanks in advance...Eric

Eric:

I've been spending time during the summer on the Cape since childhood, even though I moved to California in the 60's. I still go every August, but I only got into RC about two-and-a-half years ago. I brought a plane the summer before last, and had a ball flying it at the beach and in front of my house on the Pleasant Bay marshes in East Orleans. It was only after my trip that I saw an issue of QFI magazine with a big article on slope soaring sites on the Cape. I was pretty amazed that a British mag would have an article about the Cape, and also surprised that there was a whole slope soaring scene that I hadn't been aware of.

Anyhow, this is a round about way of telling you that slope soaring seems to be the major RC flying activity on the Cape. I'm sure someone from the area will chime in on this thread, but I believe that there's an RC club in Cambridge (the Charles River Something-or-others) that has a website with maps of the best soaring sites. (Bascially along the dunes on the outer beach between Wellfleet and P-town.)

As far as a spot to fly your Mirage in Eastham, I'm not sure. There's certainly a lot of room at the beaches on either the bay or ocean side. There's also a fairly large field at the old high school in the middle of Orleans.

Neil

Beaches would be pretty crowded this time of year. Parking would be $$$. Situation probably unsafe. Most of the slopers show up after September and disappear mid May. On the other hand school yards are probably pretty empty.
There is a power group who flies off the back side of the Marston's Mills airport on a field they maintain.
Ron

Thanks for the Info. I checked out the Charles River site, but most of their info was about slope fliers. I was kinda hoping that someone could direct me to a high school field, soccer area or some other type of large park. Have been looking at maps, but am afraid that I will spend more time lookin than flyin. Thanks for any and all info...PS not really interested in bonking any bathers at the beach in the head...Eric

The Charles River club (can't remember the website)does have a good list of flying sites. Do a search for Cape Cod on the glider forum. If you drive up towards Provincetown, you can park on the highway and walk to the dunes. I wish I could tell you better exactly where, but chances are you will see a couple of cars already on the side of the road. There is plenty of open area, but that also means quite a bit of wind (I kept the plane in the car and tookout a kite).

Just came back from the Cape and had a great vacation with the wife and kids (2 year old and 6 month old). Found a great flying site on the first day of vacation and spent the next several days getting in some great early morning flying (7:30 am till about 9:00 am). If enyone is in the Eastham area of the cape, go to the Nausset Regional High School. They have several well maintained fields. The one that I was flying at was adjacent to a parking area (so I could use my car battery for recharging) and was "L" shaped. Part of the fields was for soccer and the other area was a baseball diamond. Would hand launch my Goldberg Mirrage and at the conclusion of the flight land on the infield of the baseball diamond.

My second day of flying I was approached by one of the mainttenance workers and had a sort of sinking feeling in my stomach that he was about to ask me to leave. Much to my surprise he said something like " Is that gas,because it's sure is real quiet. I sure would like to see you fly that again" I spent several minutes talking to him about my electric plane and then gave it a toss and performed a lively series of loops, rolls, inverted flight, and high speed passes. He honestly could not believe the plane was electric and that it could perform all of these manuvers and stay up for 10+ minutes. He then talked about his experiance with a gas powered helicopter and a 30 second flight that resulted in a loss of $3000 dollars worth of model.

Anyway, I had a great time flying my quiet little plane in the mornings and spending the rest of the day with my family...Life if Good. Hope someone else enjoys this location as much as I did...Eric

Eric:

Glad to hear you found a good spot. I think the school field I mentioned in Orleans was the old Nauset Regional High School (now something else) before they built the new one that you found in Eastham. I'll be up there in a month, and I'll definitely check it out. Now, if I can just find a way to get at least one model to the Cape ... I'm thinking of breaking down my Lite Stik so it will fit in a box that I can put in the overhead on the airplane -- maybe even try to do the same with my X250.

Neil

Considering how quickly a lite stick goes together and how inexpensive it is, why not just take a kit with you and build it there?

Mount the tail feathers with #2 screws or some such so you can knock it down to fit in the box for the return trip.