This 1949 Sedan is co-owned by Jeff Sardella and John McGinnis and based at the Gatlinburg-Pigeon Forge Airport (KGKT) in Sevierville, Tennessee, USA. Jeff, who is pictured together with his cute daugther Marianne in photo 01, is a CFI, ATP, A&P and IA, specialized in tailwheel flight instruction. He works as a professional restorer for the Tennessee Museum of Aviation and is responsible for some very exciting aircraft such as their Republic P-47s, Grumman Albatross, Twin Beech and others.
John McGinnis writes: "I bought Aeronca Sedan C-GHKE at Cooking Lake near Edmonton, Canada. It had been used on skis to resupply Canadian Club to Hunting Lodges. Had a wreck or two on the ice. I never got the paperwork to export the plane, nor did I file the mandatory Canadian flight plan to Regina, Saskatchewan. The next morning, I did, of course, file a flight plan with US Customs. The reason I got the aircraft into the USA was that the verdict in the O.J. Simpson case was announced, while we were airborne to Minot, North Dakota, and the customs agent was so angry, he just waved us through! The FAA noted the lack of export paperwork, but, the plane being at the Knoxville Downtown Island Airport (KDKX), Tennesse, by then, and after jumping through all the other hoops, they decided that was a Canadian problem and gave me a new Airworthiness Certificate and re-registered her in the USA as N1214H, on 26 December 1995. The original tail number, N1414H, was assigned to a Cessna, but I found N1214H, also an Aeronca Sedan number, to be available."
As of October 2014, the owners described N1214H as follows: "Airframe total time 3168.61 hours. Continental C-145-2 engine, 1702.61 hours SMOH. Narco COM-810 TSO radio. Transponder, blind encoder. Pointer ELT. Vacuum-driven gyro horizon and vacuum-driven T&B (2 venturis). Left emergency exit (for floats). Modified, full opening main door. Metal prop. Maule tail wheel. Raised battery position. Strobe. Ski fittings. Based at KGKT, Sevierville, Tennessee."
In April 2015, Jeff moved the Sedan into a hangar and has started working on her. Let's hope, N1214H will take to the skies, soon again!
An interesting side note: N-number N1214H was originally assigned to Sedan 15AC-226, which was later exported to Ireland and re-registered as EI-BJJ.
(This page last updated: 02/2017)
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Photos © Matthias Sieber
