Sable Island Aerodrome

Sable Island Aerodrome, (IATA: YSA, TC LID: CSB2), is located on Sable Island, Nova Scotia, Canada. The term aerodrome is somewhat of a misnomer in this case - there is no actual airport infrastructure nor is there a runway on Sable Island - fixed-wing aircraft land on the hard sand of the south beach. The designated landing area has been registered as an aerodrome (and therefore has an entry as such in the Canada Flight Supplement) in order to facilitate approval of a GPS approach. Sable Aviation operates a Britten-Norman Islander that makes regular flights to this aerodrome; it is the contracted fixed wing service provider for Sable Island.

Prior permission is required to land at this aerodrome, as the Operations Coordinator of Parks Canada's Sable Island Station must thoroughly inspect the area in use that day to ensure that it is not too soft for the aircraft. This is accomplished by driving a truck up and down the length of the landing area, thereby marking out the "runway". Too much rain often renders the sand too mushy to safely land the aircraft; conversely, in the heat of summer the sand may dry out to such an extent that the area again becomes too soft to land on.

Although tidal cycles do not affect the south beach, storm surges occasionally flood the entire landing area to a depth of more than a foot, rendering it unusable for fixed-wing operations for weeks or even months at a time.