If this pilot is genuinely guilty then he deserves the full force of the law. There ought not to be misplaced sympathy even though you do wonder what would lead to people doing this.
In the U.K. people are innocent until proven guilty - (though this principle seems rather "thin" in some situations). Guilt has to be proven in court - beyond a reasonable doubt.
I'll bet that any judge sentencing an aviation professional for this offence will be thinking of imprisonment. The court can hear mitigation - (that's where all the points about emotional problems etc. come in) - but it's going to have to be damn good to save someone from prison.
There are two possible offences - (1) being unfit for duty - i.e. ability impaired by drink / drugs - (2) Exceeding the prescribed limit which, for most aviation professionals, is set at only 9 microgrammes alocohol per 100 millilitres of breath. (Licensed aircraft engineers have a higher limit - does this make sense? - it doesn't to me).
In the U.K., excess alcohol cases against aviation professionals are nearly always going to end up in the Crown Court which can hand down up to 2 years for the offence. The Magistrates Courts do not have power to imprison people for these offences even though they can imprison motorists guilty of excess alcohol.
Loss of job / reputation would follow all this .......... is it worth it?
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