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Guide

Flying yourself in: the island's small strips and seaplane bases

Node to node: every coded strip against every other

The island as a pilot's graph. Distances are great-circle, from the open map's coordinates, so they are the floor of any leg, not a route. Fogo (CDY3) is a node like the rest — the strip that skips the ferry queue also shortens the hop from either airport to a single line in this table.

Great-circle distance in nautical miles between every coded aerodrome OpenStreetMap maps on the island (18 nodes), west to east. Computed from the mapped coordinates on 2026-09-06; a straight line, not a route, and not a promise that either end is open.
nmCDA5CYJTCCT5CYDFCCM4CYAYCDU4CCR8CCP2CCC2CYQXCDY3CCW5CCZ3CHG2CWVACCV4CYYT
CDA5·55100115192251167151172166202231209218245255256265
CYJT55·4661137196115125127155159182176185218218230239
CCT5~10046·151011556910586146121138145154192183203212
CYDF1156115·891405610677149112126140148188175200208
CCM419213710189·6384180122227150134191197241209251257
CYAY25119615514063·111209142257159126202205248206256261
CDU4~167115695684111·99381486972108114158132168175
CCR8~15112510510618020999·684873117617095108106116
CCP217212786771221423868·1163559707612099130138
CCC216615514614922725714848116·112157838991125100109
CYQX202159121112150159697335112·4543479264101107
CDY3231182138126134126721175915745·838412580131136
CCW5~2091761451401912021086170834383·950476169
CCZ321818515414819720511470768947849·44395461
CHG22452181921882412481589512091921255044·531221
CWVA255218183175209206132108991256480473953·5658
CCV425623020320025125616810613010010113161541256·9
CYYT265239212208257261175116138109107136696121589·

~ marks a water aerodrome. Hover a code for the name; click one, on either axis, for the strip's own page.

From CYQX — Gander International Airport

From CYDF — Deer Lake Airport

From CDY3 — Fogo Airport

Flown, on the record: no pilot has sent a log yet. A GPS log from the panel or the tablet, both ends at a strip on this table, is the proof — how to send it.

Every aerodrome and water base OpenStreetMap maps on the island (21, swept 2026-09-06), each pin linking to the strip's own page, with the measured routes to the aerodromes this guide writes about drawn from Gander (YQX) and Deer Lake (YDF).Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Tiles by OpenFreeMap. Route line computed with OSRM.

Yes, a recreational pilot can make a trip of it. OpenStreetMap holds registered land strips at Botwood, Fogo, Springdale and Clarenville’s corridor, and water bases on the Humber and in Green Bay, each near a drive this site has measured.

Check the Canada Flight Supplement, flight by flight. Registrations, closures and fuel come from Nav Canada. The map says these places exist; the CFS says whether they are open today.

The long legs off the island are below.

The long legs — what the great circle says

Gander exists where it does because of arithmetic like this. Every distance below is a great circle computed from airport coordinates. Whether your aircraft can fly a leg is for your POH to say.

To from YQX from YDF
Blanc-Sablon, QC (CYBX) — the Labrador Straits airport 335 km / 181 nm 249 km / 134 nm
Sydney, NS (CYQY) — nearest mainland 513 km / 277 nm 393 km / 212 nm
Goose Bay, Labrador (CYYR) 635 km / 343 nm 503 km / 272 nm
Sept-Îles, QC (CYZV) 854 km / 461 nm 647 km / 349 nm
Halifax (CYHZ) 814 km / 439 nm 667 km / 360 nm
Narsarsuaq, Greenland (BGBW) 1,476 km / 797 nm 1,525 km / 824 nm
Lajes, Azores (LPLA) 2,459 km / 1,328 nm 2,665 km / 1,439 nm
Keflavík, Iceland (BIKF) 2,533 km / 1,368 nm 2,635 km / 1,423 nm
Santa Maria, Azores (LPAZ) 2,714 km / 1,465 nm 2,919 km / 1,576 nm
Shannon, Ireland (EINN) 3,179 km / 1,717 nm 3,352 km / 1,810 nm
London Heathrow (EGLL) 3,773 km / 2,037 nm 3,945 km / 2,130 nm
Paris CDG (LFPG) 4,068 km / 2,196 nm 4,245 km / 2,292 nm

The island’s aviation history is in these bands. The Labrador coast is closer than the mainland: Blanc-Sablon at 134 nm from Deer Lake is a shorter hop than Sydney. Goose Bay at under 350 nm is why the northern ferry route (Goose, Narsarsuaq, Reykjavík) lets short-legged aircraft cross the Atlantic in day hops. The Azores at roughly 1,300–1,500 nm are the southern crossing the flying boats staged from Botwood to make. Shannon at ~1,700 nm is the classic eastbound tech-stop leg. London, at just over 2,000 nm, decides whether a jet crosses nonstop or takes on fuel here, where Atlantic crossings have fuelled since 1938. The runways never shrank: 3,107 metres at Gander, 2,448 at Deer Lake, both cited above from the same open map.

The strips and water bases

Before you go

  • Status, fuel and runway conditionAlways — checked flight by flight, never assumed

    This page records what OpenStreetMap holds: that these aerodromes exist, where, and their registration. Whether a strip is active this season, its surface, fuel and procedures come from the Canada Flight Supplement and NOTAMs. Plan with Nav Canada, not a travel page.

    plan.navcanada.ca →

  • WeatherAlways

    Every pilot knows whose call the weather is. The live strips on this site report ground conditions for drivers. They are not aviation weather.

    plan.navcanada.ca →

  • ATC, flight information and NOTAMsAlways — Gander's airspace is worked by NAV CANADA, not described here

    The island sits under the Gander Area Control Centre. Frequencies, procedures and the day's NOTAMs come from NAV CANADA and the CFS. Briefings, GFAs, METARs and TAFs for every coded strip in the table are on NAV CANADA's planning site. Nothing on this page replaces that briefing.

    navcanada.ca →

  • Customs — airports of entryAlways — port status and hours are CBSA's to state

    Gander, Deer Lake and St. John's all handle international arrivals. Which services run at which port, and when, is in the Canada Border Services Agency's directory. Confirm before you file.

    cbsa-asfc.gc.ca →

Questions

Why does a driving site care about airstrips?＋

The idea is the same: the island is measured from where you arrive. A pilot's arrival is just smaller, and several strips sit on drives this site has already measured.

Can I charter or rent a plane at these strips?＋

This site does not recommend operators. The registrations above come from the open map. Who flies from where is between you, the CFS and the operators.

Which is the most useful one?＋

Fogo, by a long way: a registered strip on an island that otherwise costs a ferry queue each way. Land at CDY3 and the iceberg shore, the trails and Brimstone Head are a short drive away.

Can I hop between the island's strips — Gander to Fogo, Deer Lake to Fogo?＋

Yes. The table on this page gives every coded aerodrome OpenStreetMap maps on the island, each against each, in great-circle nautical miles, including Fogo (CDY3), the airports and the water bases. Read your leg off the table. Then check NAV CANADA for weather, NOTAMs and the strip's status, and your POH for whether your aircraft flies it with reserves. The table gives the shortest possible distance, not the plan.

Can a private jet land at Gander or Deer Lake?＋

The runways say yes. Gander's 03/21 is 3,107 m of asphalt (about 10,190 ft, OpenStreetMap way/154350651), with a second at 2,708 m, built for the piston airliners of 1938. Deer Lake's 07/25 is 2,448 m (about 8,030 ft, way/180061283). For handling, fees and slots, ask the airport or an FBO.

Is there a helicopter transfer or car service after landing?＋

Operators exist for both, and this site names none of them, the same as for boat tours. Operators who want to be found here can use the partners page. What this site gives every arrival is the measured drive.

Every figure on this page was checked against its source on September 5, 2026.

Going with someone?

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