I'm proud to announce the birth of N601ZR 12/17/2003.
The inspection and registration process went smoothly, it almost seemed
effortless.

The EAA tech counselors did their 3rd and final inspection on Sunday.
I went back out monday and spent a couple hours taking care of a few
items they had pointed out (those extra sets of eyes are invaluable),
then put the cowls and inspection covers back on the plane.
Tuesday was engine run and taxi-test, my buddy Greg came along to take
down readings and act as ballast. The Jabiru started up easily and runs
s-m-o-o-t-h . The power was good, the temps were in range, everything
was secure, so a call to ground control got us clearance to taxi around
the airport and a radio check of loud and clear. It was a cool day, with
about 15 MPH winds. We taxied around for 10 or 15 minutes checking
toe-in, differential braking, hard turns, engine temps, etc... all went
well. We rolled her back in the hangar and opened her up for another
look. No runs, no drips, no errors... "good to go" for the DAR the next day.
Wednesday, the DAR came out to the hangar and spent about a half hour
with paperwork and another half hour doing a hands-on inspection. He had
a couple of questions, a couple of suggestions, and a few nice
comments... but NO squawks. We exchanged paperwork and signitures and it
was a done deal, she's now officially an airplane. Best of all, I got
the airworthiness certificate dated 12-17-2003, the 100 year anniversary
of flight.

Here's a pic of the new baby:
http://www.lightflyers.com/birthday.html

proud father,
Rick Pitcher