Sable Island is a long, narrow, crescent shaped sandbar that sits about 150nm SE of Halifax in the North Atlantic Ocean.  It's a federally protected area due to its ecologically sensitive nature.  It has a fascinating history and is home to many shipwrecks which ran aground the historically hard to see, always shifting land.  One of these shipwrecks was carrying horses in the 1700s, and there are still wild horses that live on the island today that are descendant from those horses.

Despite is being a fascinating island not too far from shore, visitors are very limited by the Federal Government.  Scientists inhabit the island and a small number of tourists are permitted each year.  Passes to the island are very hard to come by, but if you are lucky enough to get one, you'll likely travel there via Sable Aviation.  Sable Aviation is based at Halifax Stanfield International Airport (CYHZ) and operates a single BN-2 Islander.  It is one of the few (only?) fixed wing operators permitted to fly into the Sable Island Aerodrome (CSB2), which basically consists of a 1500' sand runway and not much else.  The charts for the aerodrome warn "Sand might not be firm enough for aircraft".

With all that in mind, and my recent Black Friday purchase of the Blackbox BN-2 Islander, I set off for my first virtual visit to Sable Island, CYHZ-CSB2.  Shoutout to @jankees for the great repaint of this relatively obscure Islander.

Loading up my passengers at the Gateway FBO

 

It's a windy day here in Halifax as we taxi toward 23 for departure

 

Even with AIG running it's not a particularly busy terminal scene on a Sunday morning.  Nice to see Porter back in action though

 

Holding short of 23 at Delta

 

And we're off!  Even with a significant fuel load it doesn't take long for the Islander to get airborne...I brought enough to get back to Halifax if needed because other alternates are...wet.

 

A left turn away from the airport puts us on course for the direct route to Sable Island.  There is lots of military restricted airspace just offshore but this direct route is just north of them.

 

The GPS shows about an hour of flight time as we pass over Porters Lake heading for the coast.

 

Martinique Beach is the sliver of land in the distance, a really nice beach within driving distance of Halifax.

 

A few enroute cruise shots.  Just me, clouds and the great blue sea.

 

I was cruising at 3000 feet but dropped down to the MSA (1500ft) to get out of the clouds and try to make visual contact with the island.

 

There it is...unfortunately much greener in MSFS than in real life it seems.

 

Good to see I'm not alone out here!

 

Overflying the "runway".  Clear of horses and scientists.

 

And we're down.  Again, this should be sand vs grass but the MSFS grass effect is still pretty cool for screenshots.

 

Thanks for looking!  This was certainly a different flight from my usual fare.  If you don't have the Blackbox Islander I can highly recommend it and it's currently on sale in the marketplace.

Dave

Very nice shots!

Nice pics - CYHZ looks really nice.

28 minutes ago, ryanbatcund said:

Nice pics - CYHZ looks really nice.

Thanks!  Yes FSimStudios is really hitting their stride in MSFS, their other products are quite nice as well.

Interesting out-of-the-way excursion.

John

nice stuff and nice pfp, go cp air!!

 

Excellent set of shots Sir !! . 

Thats a nice set of shots !

cheers 😉

Interesting set of shots. My older brother worked on Sable Island for many years as a radio operator for the Dept. of Transportation. It's a very exposed and isolated location, and yes there are wild horses there.