Top speed 175 km/h Length 6.45 m | Wingspan 8.25 m Designer Claude Piel | |
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The Piel CP.70 Beryl was a twin-seat, single-engine sport aircraft first flown in France in the 1960s and marketed for homebuilding.
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Design and development
Designed by Claude Piel, the Beryl uses the same wing design as the Piel Emeraude but with a new fuselage, exchanging the Emeraude's side-by-side configuration seating for seating in tandem. As originally designed, the aircraft was to be fitted with fixed, tricycle undercarriage with a steerable nosewheel. Construction throughout was of doped fabric-covered wood.
An aerobatic version, designated the CP.750 was also developed. This differed from the basic CP.70 in having a reduced wingspan, fixed tailwheel undercarriage, and a slightly longer fuselage. It retained the CP.70's wooden wings, but the fuselage was built of welded steel tube and still covered in fabric.
Operational history
The Beryl has been home-built by amateur constructors and in 2009 there were still four examples active on the French civil aircraft register. The prototype F-PMEQ completed in 1965 with tricycle undercarriage, was still active in 2014 modified as a CP.703 with tail-wheel undercarriage. Examples of the design have also been completed in Brazil and the United States.
Variants
Specifications (CP.70)
Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1977–78, p.496
General characteristics
Performance