Piel CP-80

Piel CP-80

The Piel CP.80 Zephir and Piel CP.801 are racing aircraft developed in France in the 1970s and marketed for homebuilding. They are compact, single-seat, single-engine monoplanes with low, cantilever wings. The pilots sit in fully enclosed cockpits and the tailwheel undercarriages are fixed. Although designed to be built of wood, the first CP.80 to fly (registered F-PTXL and named Zef) was built from composite materials by Pierre Calvel and beat even the designer's own CP.80 into the air. Calvel's CP-80 was entered in the French Formula One air races in 1976, but failed to qualify.