Two Russian pilots admitted being over the legal drink limit for flying after having four pints of beer because it "tasted a bit watery" compared with beer in their own country.
Captain Mikhail Danilstsev, 47, and co-pilot Andrey Lyubimov, 56, were caught after a security officer smelled booze on their breath when they turned up for a flight at Manchester Airport.
The two Aeroflot pilots were spared jail after admitting t
hey had each drunk four pints with a meal the night before they were due to fly their Boeing 767 to Moscow.
But Manchester Crown Court was told that they thought the beer at their airport hotel "tasted a bit watery" compared with Russian beer.
They both had 27 miligrammes of alcohol in 100 mililitres of blood when they were arrested by airport police on August 15. The legal limit for pilots flying aircraft is 20 miligrammes in 100 millilitres.
The pair, both from Moscow, pleaded guilty to carrying out an activity auxiliary to an aviation function while impaired by alcohol exceeding the prescribed limit.
Justin Hayhoe, prosecuting, said: "They drank four glasses or pints of beer between 6pm and 8pm. Both knew there were restrictions in place on consuming alcohol."
He said Danilstsev, who had worked for Aeroflot for 22 years, believed it was company policy not to drink for 24 hours before a flight.
But Lyubimov, who had worked for Aeroflot for 19 years, believed there was an eight-hour ban on drink.
Mr Hayhoe said Lyubimov told police: "I have committed an offence. I know I shouldn't have done it."
The pilots have both been sacked. The airline bans pilots from drinking 24 hours before a flight.
Raymond Wigglesworth QC, defending, said no passengers were due on board the early morning flight because the pilots had flown the plane to Manchester to have its undercarriage replaced.
He said they had expected the flight to be delayed and would have been under the drink limit when they took off.
Both, who had an 'unblemished' service history before the incident, regretted what had happened.
Judge Mushtaq Khokhar fined Danilstsev and Lyubimov £2,500 each and ordered them each to pay £150 costs. He also ordered them to pay a £15 victim surcharge each.
Sentencing the pair he said: "The offence to which you pleaded guilty is very serious. Any slight error under the influence of drink can result in catastrophe."
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