No drinking
Ok it's been a few years, but when I took a full pilot licence we were taught facts slightly different to those quoted in the article.
"Eight hours from bottle to throttle" was a guide only. The rule is that you can't enter the flightdeck or cockpit (yeah yeah) while affected by alcohol. This stems back from IATA rules of 1948. If you read the rules literally, you are/were legally on safe ground if you took the controls stone sober but drinking a bottle of whisky while taking off! :)
Commercial pilots (ATPL), however, are ALSO governed by airline regulations, and they seem to be very strict regarding alcohol consumption, particularly while flying. Since I don't know of any ultra lights flying scheduled flights with passengers, I assume this not to be an issue in this case.
If the pilot in questions was under normal pilot licensing rules, he is guaranteed to have broken a number of rules. You have to be 500ft away from vehicles or persons unless during take-off and landing on designated airstrips or airports. Also, you have to keep a certain distance from any large gathering of people (Don't know how popular the club in question is).