Helsinki - The German captain of a Lufthansa passenger jet was on Monday handed a 60-day suspended sentence by a Finnish court for preparing to take off while inebriated at the airport in Helsinki on December 20.
The Vantaa district court also slapped the airplane's co-pilot with a fine equal to 40 days of his pay, in accordance with Finnish law.
The two risked sentences of up to two years in jail.
Police, alerted by airport personnel about the pilots' animated state, stopped the pair in the cockpit of a Lufthansa Boeing 737 passenger jet as they were preparing for take-off.
Tests later showed that the captain had a blood-alcohol content of 0,61 promille, and the co-pilot 0,34 promille. All pilots face a mandatory 24-hour ban from consuming alcohol before flying an airplane.
Lufthansa sacked the pair in January and their pilot licences were revoked. - Sapa-AFP
