Sands Ranch Airport

As a private airfield, the exact reason for closure is not publicly documented. However, the most probable cause is a private decision by the landowner (Sands Ranch). Common reasons for such closures include the owner no longer operating aircraft, the cost of maintenance becoming prohibitive, a change in land use priorities, or the sale of the property. There is no evidence of closure due to an accident or military conversion.

The airport is permanently closed and the site has reverted to agricultural use. Current satellite imagery of the coordinates shows that the land is being used as pasture or farmland. The faint outline of the former runway is still visible as a linear feature in the landscape but is overgrown and indistinct. There are no remaining airport facilities such as hangars, windsocks, or markings. The land is fully integrated back into the surrounding ranch.

Sands Ranch Airport was a private-use airstrip with local, not national, significance. Its primary function was to support the operations of the large Sands Ranch on which it was located. Operations would have consisted of general aviation and agricultural flights. This likely included personal transportation for the ranch owners and agricultural aviation (ag-flying) for crop dusting, seeding, or surveying the vast property. Aeronautical charts from its active period indicate it had a single unpaved turf or dirt runway, oriented approximately north/south, with a length of about 2,600 feet. It was never a public-use airport and did not handle commercial or military traffic.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Sands Ranch Airport. The decision to reopen would be solely at the discretion and expense of the current landowner. Given that the airstrip has been defunct for over a decade and the land has been reclaimed for agriculture, the likelihood of it being restored to aviation use is extremely low.