Flight 33: Halifax to Sable Island

Turbo Duke at Sable Island

When most flight simmers hear about a landing strip on a beach, they think of Barra, in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland.  However, there is another beach landing strip located in North America, at the crescent shaped Sable Island off the coast of Nova Scotia.

Sable Island (French: île de Sable) is a small island situated 300 km (190 mi) southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and about 175 km (109 mi) southeast of the closest point of mainland Nova Scotia in the Atlantic Ocean. It is a year-round home to approximately five people, with summer numbers swelled by tourists, scientists, and others. Notable for the Sable Island horse, the island is protected and managed by Parks Canada. Permission must first be granted by it before anyone may visit. Sable Island is part of District 7 of the Halifax Regional Municipality^[1] in Nova Scotia. The island is also a protected National Park Reserve.

A life-saving station was established on Sable Island by the Governor of Nova Scotia, John Wentworth, in 1801. The rescue station began the continuous human presence on the island which continues today.

Improvements in navigation led to a dramatic drop in shipwrecks by the mid 20th century. The rescue station on Sable was reduced and eventually closed in 1958. However, during this period, the island's role in science grew, first in weather research. The Canadian government expanded the collection of weather data originally started by the rescue station into a full meteorological station operated by Environment Canada and Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The station conducts routine atmospheric and meteorological studies from a permanently occupied station on Sable Island because of its unique isolated geographic position down-wind from the North American mainland. In addition to weather studies, research on the island expanded to a range of ecological and wildlife studies due to its unique position in the Atlantic.

The flight from Halifax was largely uneventful and mostly over water.  However, locating the station proved to be rather difficult because it was difficult to see from a plane.  Also, the information I had indicated that it was located on the south beach of the island, when, in fact, it was located on the north side of the island, about midway on the island.

In any case, I landed on a beach on the south side, several miles from the station, not knowing whether there was actually a station on the Simaddon/Flight Simulator's version of the island.  There was, and the first hint was a tower I could see in the distance.  My plane became a dune buggy as I went across the island.  It was mostly a sandbar and the ride was somewhat bumpy.  I probably would not have done it in real life.

Both sceneries used in this flight, Halifax and Sable Island, were produced by Simaddons, and both were in the Halifax base pack.

There are no trees on the island and it appears windswept and barren.  I did see a few bushes.  A real life photograph looks a lot like the version in Flight Simulator:

This was certainly one of the more unique stops on my world tour and a rather interesting adventure all on its own.