Transform Your Flight Sim Experience
with In-Depth Tracking & Analysis
Track every flight, analyse your performance,
and master your flying skills with My FS Flights
Get 10 flights free every month!
Tracked and analysed flights over miles
Coronel FAP Francisco Secada Vignetta International Airport serves Iquitos, the largest city in the Peruvian Amazon and a settlement reachable only by air or river. The field offers a single long asphalt runway with an ILS, making it an important and reliable IFR and VFR destination for pilots exploring the Amazon basin region of Loreto.
Coronel FAP Francisco Secada Vignetta International Airport is the principal airport serving Iquitos, capital of the Loreto Region and one of Peru's largest cities, notable for being accessible only by air or by river since no roads connect it to the rest of the country. Named after Peruvian Air Force officer Colonel Francisco Secada Vignetta, a native of Iquitos who distinguished himself in aerial combat during the 1932-33 war with Colombia, the airport is a key logistical hub for the Amazon jungle and an interesting destination for simulator pilots wanting to fly into a genuinely remote yet well-equipped international field.
The airport lies in the Loreto Region of Peru, close to Iquitos, with the Wikipedia entry placing it around 7 km to the southeast of the city centre. It sits within the San Juan Bautista District. Given its role as one of Peru's busier international airports, it is served by an approach control and tower service, indicating controlled airspace around the field.
The airport has a single physical runway, 06/24, measuring 8,163 feet in length with a hard (asphalt) surface. Both directions are lit, and runway 06 is equipped with an ILS approach.
Traffic is worked by Iquitos Approach on 124.1 MHz and Iquitos Tower on 118.5 MHz. An ILS is available for runway 06, supporting instrument approaches in the often challenging tropical weather of the region.
The current airport replaced the older Lieutenant Bergerie airfield in downtown Iquitos in 1979. It took its present name in 1973 in commemoration of Colonel Francisco Secada Vignetta (1900-1972), an Iquitos native who flew reconnaissance and bombing sorties, typically in Vought O2U Corsair biplanes, during the 1932-33 conflict with Colombia, and who was credited with shooting down a Colombian aircraft in a dogfight in February 1933. The airfield has seen several notable incidents over the decades, including a fatal DC-8 crash in 1980 attributed to poor weather and low visibility, and two separate runway excursions in heavy rain in 1989 involving a Faucett Perú Boeing 737 and an APISA Air Cargo DC-8, the latter aircraft never flying again.
Since 2006 the airport has been administered under concession by Aeropuertos del Perú and now handles more than a million passengers a year, making it the fourth busiest airport in Peru behind Lima, Cusco and Arequipa. It is served by carriers including LATAM Perú, Sky Airline, Star Perú and JetSmart Perú, with regular flights to Lima and connections to Pucallpa, Tarapoto and Chiclayo, as well as charter services to smaller jungle communities such as Güeppi, San Antonio del Estrecho, Caballococha and Villa Trompeteros. It is noted as the only airport in the Amazon region to hold ISO9001 certification, reflecting its role as a well-established gateway for both civil and military aviation in the Peruvian Amazon.
