The Spanish pilot who died in the Cork air crash was on one of his first flights captaining a plane, his family said today.
Jordi Sola Lopez, 31, was an experienced co-pilot but had only taken charge of a aircraft on a few occasions, they said.
Investigators were today said to be focusing on the pilot's decision to make repeated attempts to land in heavy fog. The plane crashed on the third attempt at landing killing six including the pilot and British co-pilot Andrew Cantle, 27.
The Manx2 commuter plane had left the George Best Airport in Belfast at 8.12am before heading south to Cork around 250 miles away.
On its first approach to Runway 17 the pilot aborted landing due to heavy fog. At around 9.30am he made a second attempt on Runway 35 in the opposite direction. Blinded by heavy fog he took the plane back into a holding pattern above the airport for 20 minutes.
