Checotah, US 🇺🇸 Closed Airport
US-10173
-
620 ft
US-OK
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Loading...GPS Code: Not available
Local Code: Not available
Location: 35.42414° N, -95.4962° E
Continent: NA
Type: Closed Airport
Keywords: 48OK
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The exact closure date is not officially documented. Analysis of historical satellite imagery indicates the airstrip was clearly defined and likely active in the mid-1990s. By the mid-2000s, it began to show signs of disuse, and in current imagery, it is significantly overgrown. The airport likely ceased operations and was officially closed sometime between the late 1990s and mid-2000s.
The reason for closure is not publicly recorded. For a small, private airstrip of this nature, the most common reasons are that the owner who was a pilot either sold the property, stopped flying, or found the cost of maintenance and insurance prohibitive. There is no information to suggest the closure was due to a major accident, environmental concerns, or conversion for military or industrial use.
The site is currently private property and part of the surrounding ranch land. The former runway is still faintly visible from satellite view as a north-south grass and dirt strip, but it is completely overgrown and unmaintained. It is not usable as an airfield. The surrounding area remains active ranch and agricultural land.
The Rafter R Ranch Airport was a private-use airfield with no significant public or military history. Its sole purpose was to serve the transportation needs of the owner of the Rafter R Ranch. Operations would have been limited to light general aviation aircraft, such as single-engine piston planes (e.g., Cessna or Piper models), used for personal or business travel. Its historical significance is confined to the history of the ranch it served.
There are no known plans, proposals, or prospects for reopening the Rafter R Ranch Airport. Reactivating a long-closed private airfield would require significant investment in clearing, grading, and potentially seeking new FAA registration. Given its extended period of disuse, the probability of it being restored for aviation is extremely low.