The Sault Ste Marie Water Aerodrome is a seaplane base located in Ontario, Canada, on the Saint Marys River, just a short distance down river from the Soo locks. The locks allow freighters (many of which are 1000 feet long) to travel from Lake Superior to the lower Great Lakes. Especially important is the transportation of iron ore from mines in Minnesota and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan to steel mills in Chicago, Gary, Detroit, and Cleveland.
CPX8 is located on the central waterfront of Sault Ste Marie, among several marine-oriented businesses. There are six floatplane docks, several marked helicopter landing pads, and a large ramp for amphibious planes leading to a large hangar. The hangar is the home of the Canadian Bushplane Heritage Centre, a large aviation museum centered on the rich history of back-country flying in Canada (birthplace of the beloved de Havilland Beaver and Otter). The museum has numerous aviation-themed exhibits, with more than 20 aircraft on display. What a great place to launch from as you explore the thousands of beautiful lakes and rivers of Ontario!
The Aerodrome as implemented in MSFS
Currently, CPX8 only exists in the simulator as a single, short, water runway on the Canadian side of the river. This add-on implements the floatplane docks, the large ramp, and the large hangar housing the museum. There are parking spaces at 5 of the docks (with a static Beaver at the sixth). There are also 4 helipads, three of which are available to spawn at and one with a static Bell 206. There is also one parking spot for an amphibious plane at the head of the water ramp. Many other scenery elements are included, including signage, parking, construction items, tractor, tug, fencing, tables, trucks, and a static DC-3 on a post outside the main entrance to the museum. (There actually is an airplane on a post at the museum, but it is a twin Beech on skis. The DC-3 was the closest match I could find.)
CPX8 shares its airspace with MI8, the Sault Ste Marie International Seaplane Base, located across the river in Sault Ste Marie, Michigan (in the US). MI8 has three water runways, but only a single dock that is in the water during the warm months. You may want to load up my add-on for MI8 (located here) so that you have access to those facilities when you visit CPX8. I could not find a CTAF for CPX8, but I assume it is 122.7, shared with MI8.
Notes
To install the aerodrome update, unzip and place the folder titled "mulberrywing-airport-cpx8-sault-ste-marie" in your community folder.
To see the float plane docks you will need to download the Seaplane Asset Library from flightsim.to and place it in your community folder. Many thanks to 30West for providing this great library!
There is a lengthy history of the Sault Ste Marie locks in my posting of MI8, which can be found here. A nice MSFS implementation of the Soo Locks by Michiganderflyer can be found here on flightsim.to.
Although I have been to Sault Ste Marie, Ontario, several times, I am embarrassed to say that I have not been to the floatplane museum. I hope to remedy this shortcoming soon.
2 months ago
2 months ago
MulberryWing
smoothflyer
I actually had a band practice there by James Clements in a storage unit once too! The only place we could practice that time was there.
2 months ago
2 months ago
MulberryWing
BurstixTV
PD: Those static planes need this for your photos xD https://flightsim.to/file/46419/get-rid-of-fix
2 months ago
2 months ago
MulberryWing
Socorrista22198