Pubdate: Thu, 11 Dec 2003
Source: National Post (Canada)
Copyright: 2003 Southam Inc.
Contact:  http://www.nationalpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/286
Author: Brian Hutchinson

A HOSTAGE, BUT NOT TO THE FACTS

B.C. Novelist Mines And Refines His Life As A Drug Runner

KELOWNA - Alan McTeer can't stop talking. About his life as a gun-toting 
pilot with the Colombian drug cartel, about his days spent training 
U.S.-backed freedom fighters in Nicaragua, about his many brushes with death.

Some of his tales are true. Some, it seems, are a blend of fiction and 
fact. The distinction is not always clear.

This much is certain: Mr. McTeer, a native of Rossland, B.C., is a distant 
cousin of Maureen McTeer, wife of former prime minister Joe Clark. His 
brother-in-law is Ken Georgetti, president of the Canadian Labour Congress. 
Mr. McTeer is an aviation nut, who obtained his pilot's licence at the 
tender age of 12. And in 1983, he was arrested in Florida, accused by drug 
enforcement agents of smuggling marijuana into the U.S.

He then disappeared for 10 years.

Mr. McTeer, 51, is back in B.C. And he has just written a book that may or 
may not describe what he got up to while in exile.

Released in October by a small American publishing house, Red Zone 
describes in lean prose some two years in the life of a Canadian pilot 
named Alan Richards. The character crash-lands a small airplane in 
Venezuela, and is tortured for weeks at the hands of thuggish police. He 
escapes with his "co-pilot pretty boy Mario Rodriguez," and they wind up in 
Colombia, where they are held hostage by some of the nastiest drug lords in 
the Western hemisphere. To survive, Richards must pilot airplanes stuffed 
with cocaine to various secret destinations.

The book is described as a novel, "based on a true story."

Chatting over coffee with Mr. McTeer in a large Kelowna hotel, I begin to 
suspect that a lot of his anecdotes fit this description. It's a notion he 
doesn't dismiss.

"Everything is based on a true story," he says with a laugh.

"I can't tell you everything that has happened, because it would get me in 
trouble. So I always have to change details. How real does anything have to 
be, to be true?"

That's hard to say. A story he has just penned for High Times magazine, the 
U.S. bible of marijuana culture, is about how he got started in the 
marijuana smuggling business, flying plane-loads of pot from the United 
States into Canada. It reads like a non-fiction article. It has Mr. 
McTeer's name on it. But is it true?

Then there is the long piece he contributed to Cannabis Culture, a Canadian 
magazine for pot enthusiasts. "First it was auto parts and alcohol from the 
United States to Canada, but that soon developed into marijuana," he wrote. 
"My first trip was from Vancouver to Colorado, where we picked up 200 
pounds of Mexican low grade gold. The next two trips were to California for 
more Mexican pot."

Fact, or fiction? "Both," Mr. McTeer says with a smile.

So, did he never actually smuggle bales of weed?

"I'm not saying that."

As for Red Zone, he swears it mirrors his real experience. Only a few minor 
details, such as names, dates and the climactic ending have been changed. 
He did crash-land in Venezuela and he was pressed into service for 
Colombian drug lords. "I couldn't get out of there," he says. "The 
Colombians owned me. They needed pilots, and I didn't have a passport. They 
even gave me a machine gun. I used to call the trips 'missions.' I never 
knew if I would come back."

Eventually, he made it to freedom. He moved his family to Bolivia and mined 
for gold. He also says he test-flew light aircraft and trained Nicaraguan 
contra fighters on behalf of the CIA. On and on it goes. "I've got a 
million stories," Mr. McTeer says.

After his marriage dissolved, he returned to Canada in 1993, and has 
managed to avoid danger. He is no longer wanted by U.S. authorities, he 
says, having performed enough favours for the CIA. He still flies small 
aircraft, but only for legitimate purposes. He owns a film production 
company in Kelowna and specializes in aerial photography.

Writing a book "based" on his past escapades seemed natural. Red Zone has 
been favourably received by American book reviewers, and is selling quite 
well, says its New York-based publisher, Joan Schweighardt. Contrary to a 
recent report about Mr. McTeer in a Kelowna newspaper, the book has not, 
however, sold 55,000 copies. "Gosh no," Ms. Schweighardt says. "You can 
take a zero off that figure."

No matter. Mr. McTeer is enjoying his new life as an author. He's planning 
a sequel to his novel. There is also talk about adapting Red Zone for the 
big screen. In his capacity as an aerial photographer, Mr. McTeer had an 
opportunity to meet the producer of a Hollywood movie that just finished 
shooting in the Kelowna area. "He read the book, and was totally absorbed 
in it," Mr. McTeer says.

As if to prove it, Mr. McTeer shows me a photograph of the film's producer, 
Eric Breiman. He is reading a copy of Red Zone. He looks totally absorbed 
in it.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman