The solicitor of disgraced pilot Irfan Faiz, who was prepared to fly a plane while three times the legal drink limit, has revealed that plans to appeal against the nine month jail sentence his client was given yesterday because he believes it was ‘excessive’.

It seems unlikely that the vast majority of the 144 passengers and 11 crew who were due to be on the Airbus Faiz was scheduled to fly to Islamabad – and their families – share that view.

If Faiz had been allowed to fly he would have had all their lives in his hands.

Even the smallest amount of alcohol can impair judgement, and judgements by a pilot, sometimes in highly-pressurised and fast-moving situations, affect the safety of hun-dreds of people.

To have been three times over the legal flying limit would have had a significant effect on his mental faculties, and the potential consequences don’t bear thinking about.

What is strange is that, according to his defence, the rules in Pakistan allow pilots to fly as long as they have left a 12-hour gap since their last drink, regardless of the alcohol in their system.

And that is surely an anomaly that must be addressed. For the safety of all passengers, is it not time for an international standard to be adopted, taking the strictest possible stance on this issue.

What that anomaly does not do, though, is give Faiz any kind of defence. He was flying out of England, and he should have known the law as it applies to this country.

He should now accept his sentence, and other pilots should be aware that this kind of reckless endangerment of passengers lives for the sake of a few drinks will not be tolerated.