Crooksville Airport

While no single official reason is publicly documented, the closure was almost certainly due to economic factors. The airport was privately owned and operated by the Crooksville Coal Company. The closure likely resulted from a combination of factors common to small general aviation fields of that era: declining profitability, rising costs of maintenance and insurance, and potentially a downturn in the business of its parent company. The land became more valuable for other commercial uses than for aviation.

The airport is permanently closed and the site is now private property used for industrial purposes. Satellite imagery of the location shows the clear outline of the former runway, but it is severely deteriorated, cracked, and overgrown with vegetation. The runway and surrounding areas are used for storing commercial trucks, trailers, and equipment. The former hangar buildings appear to be repurposed for industrial storage or as workshops. The site is completely unsuitable for any aviation use.

Crooksville Airport (former FAA identifier: 85D) was a small, privately-owned, public-use general aviation airport established sometime in the late 1960s. Its primary role was to support the business operations of the Crooksville Coal Company, likely for transporting executives, personnel, and parts. It also served the local community for personal and recreational flying. In the early 1980s, it featured a single paved asphalt runway (9/27) that was 2,400 feet long. It was a typical small-town airfield, handling light single-engine and twin-engine aircraft.

There are no known plans or prospects for reopening Crooksville Airport. The prospect is considered non-existent due to several factors: the land is privately owned and actively used for non-aviation commercial purposes; the aviation infrastructure, including the runway and taxiways, is in a state of complete disrepair and would require a total rebuild; and the significant financial investment needed for land acquisition, reconstruction, and FAA recertification would not be economically viable for the area, which is served by other nearby airports like Zanesville Municipal Airport (KZZV).