An airline pilot who was three times over the legal alcohol limit was jailed after a judge told him his actions could have had catastrophic consequences.

Irfan Faiz, 55, had drunk three- quarters of a litre of whisky in the hours before he was to fly an Airbus 310 out of Leeds- Bradford Airport.

But because he had left a gap of more than 12 hours between “bottle and throttle” he thought he was safe to fly, Leeds Crown Court was told yesterday.

In a case described as “deeply disturbing” by the judge Mr Justice Coulson QC, the court heard that the experienced Pakistan International Airlines pilot was unaware of the regulations controlling alcohol and flying in the UK.

Faiz was described as unsteady on his feet and smelling of alcohol when he boarded the flight to Islamabad. He was following the Pakistani rule of leaving a gap of at least 12 hours between drinking and flying, the court was told.

The pilot, who was due to fly at 10pm, claims he had stopped drinking at about 3am that day.

He had made his way to the cockpit of the plane – which had 145 passengers and 11 crew on board – and started the pre-flight checks before he was prevented from taking off after security staff raised concerns.

When tested, he gave an initial reading of 41 microgrammes in 100 millilitres of breath on the police officer’s handheld device. The legal limit for driving is 35 microgrammes but for flying in the UK it is 9mcgs, the court heard. He later gave a reading on the evidential machine of 28mcgs.

Faiz, claimed he had been drinking because of a kidnap threat against his two children – a girl aged 15 and a six-year-old boy – at home in Pakistan.

He was sentenced to nine months in jail by Mr Justice Coulson who said it was astonishing that pilots regularly flew from the UK without being aware of the rules governing their conduct.

He also told the court he found it extraordinary that rules in Pakistan allowed pilots to drink any amount of alcohol before flying as long as they left a 12-hour gap.

Mr Coulson added: “It is important that the sentence I pass carries the important message that, in general terms, airline pilots who are in drink when they are about to fly will go to prison.”

“I think it beyond doubt that if your condition had not been spotted you would have flown the airbus to Islamabad, and that could have had potentially catastrophic consequences.

“In my view your excessive alcohol consumption posed a considerable threat to the public on September 18.”

Faiz had pleaded guilty to intending to fly while being impaired by alcohol at a hearing at Leeds Magistrates’ Court in September. After the case Faiz’s solicitor, Abdul Iftikhar said he would appeal against the length of the sentence which he considered to be excessive.