Lovely looking rig that one best rate. Only second to the Kelly's panther a couple of hangers over

RUH and RUI were unloved out on the grass at Archerfield at one stage
Seem to remember they were sold for a song when Union Air fell over

Mike Jones in the US does a nice refurb on Chieftains and Navajos.

1983 PIPER NAVAJO CHIEFTAIN Piston Twin Aircraft For Sale At Controller.com

Mike Jones does a nice job with his 'Lock & Key' aircraft. I've been flying &/or managing one here in the US for the last 6 years or so. Expensive though. This one is a low time (~2500 hrs when purchased) 1980 PA31-325 with the Colemill Panther upgrades. I really like what Colemill have done to improve the PA31 series and the Mike Jones' stuff adds a nice touch.

Mike Jones bought the Colemill STCs after Colemill were flooded.

It's interesting there's not much more talk on the inter-coolers fitted as part of the lock & key mods. I heard they add quite a significant performance boost alone without the other additions such as 4 blades and winglets.

Have a few hours in RUH before its refurb, always flew straight, no VGs so a little extra speed, low basic weight, was a good little workhorse. The previous tail art made it stand out a little.

This one is an earlier Lock & Key so no intercoolers. It was prior to the glass panel revolution so the only flight instrument that's electronic is the HSI. No EDM either but I had the owner put in a JPI unit when I took over looking after it. Interestingly, it's factory approved for LOP. I didn't like doing that on the single point EGT & CHT it had, hence the JPI EDM-760. 170 kts @ 27-28 GPH is great.

The only other thing I added is an assigned altitude indicator I made from an electro-mechanical digit selector I bought at an electronics surplus shop. Just like the ones I'm used to from Oz!