After his frantic signaling, the fighter waggled its wings in a signal to follow and led his Cessna to a nearby military base. His plane was allowed to leave after its flight plan and cargo were checked, but the harrowing experience stuck with him. Avila was intercepted twice in the past five years. It hasn't happened to him recently, but he said interceptions continue despite a sharp drop in drug flights. Until last year, much of the Amazon region was under martial law to help the military fight leftist guerrillas and drug traffickers.
Pilots say that while martial law has been lifted, many of the same attitudes remain.
An American pilot, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said he has been intercepted three times in the past five years. The pilot, who said he feared losing his charter business in Peru if he were named, said he now flies with a ham radio. If tracked by military flights, he can contact co-workers at his base who can alert air traffic controllers. The pilots say that there are now just four small charter planes offering flights out of Iquitos, compared with at least 70 in 1995. Avila attributed the drop in charter flights to fear, a declining economy and the seizure of suspected drug planes.