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Black Rock island off the coast of Mayo Eamonn Farrell/Rollingnews.ie

Favourable weather conditions to aid fresh search for missing Rescue 116 crew members

Last night, RTÉ’s Prime Time reported that concerns over onboard mapping systems had been flagged four years ago.

A NEW SERIES of searches are set to take place this weekend, for the missing crew members of Rescue 116.

A garda spokesperson told TheJournal.ie that the garda water unit is scheduled to carry out searches tomorrow, with more favourable weather conditions forecast.

Captain Dara Fitzpatrick was recovered at sea soon after the helicopter went down, but died later in hospital. The body of pilot Mark Duffy was found in the wreckage of the helicopter some weeks later.

The bodies of winch operator Paul Ormsby (53) and winchman Ciarán Smith (38) have yet to be recovered.

Search operations persisted for many weeks after the helicopter went down in March.

It is believed that more favourable sea conditions will mean that a fresh survey of the area around Black Rock island, where the helicopter crashed, will be possible this weekend.

It is hoped that new evidence may be found, including one of the engines of the helicopter which lies on the sea bed.

Last night, RTÉ’s Prime Time programme revealed that a pilot had raised concerns four years ago that Black Rock island off Mayo was not on the onboard warning systems that Coast Guard search and rescue teams use, but no action was taken.

Prime Time found a chain of emails between Sligo-based Coast Guard pilots and a senior CHC manager dating back to 2013, in which the omission of Black Rock on the system was flagged.

A source quoted in the programme said that the pilot had spotted the omission while carrying out a test flight.

That source said that Coast Guard personnel were told at a meeting six weeks after the Rescue 116 crash that management was trying to establish if this information had been passed on to the company that supplied the EGPWS system.

Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One, retired lieutenant colonel Kevin Byrne said that Rescue 116 did not have sufficient data onboard its systems to avoid the collision.

He said: “It was not a mechanical error. The aircraft was running normally and there was a problem, they struck a rock as there was no warning to alarm the pilot. It is not like normal flying.”

Read: Pilot flagged concerns that island was not on mapping system 4 years before Rescue 116 crash

Read: Coast Guard rescues golden retriever trapped 15ft down a cliff in Sutton

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    Mute Fintan O HEifernain
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    Feb 16th 2013, 12:50 PM

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    Mute Kevin Hosford
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    Feb 16th 2013, 4:10 PM

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    Mute Julie
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    Feb 16th 2013, 11:26 AM

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    Mute Kevin Hosford
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    Feb 16th 2013, 4:07 PM

    If you use either google or Facebook then your privacy is already gone.

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    Mute Julie
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    Feb 16th 2013, 5:25 PM

    That’s very true but this legislation in America is not good news

    http://youtu.be/VLVXUBEMD9w

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    Mute Jason O'Leary
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    Feb 16th 2013, 12:35 PM

    Just in time for the new cyber security legislation, the how convenient is that.

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    Mute Julie
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    Feb 16th 2013, 12:39 PM

    Nothing is convenient in American politics ( you could also say irish politics in some cases) everything is precisely planned with lots of support from all sectors, media etc

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    Mute John Gleeson
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    Feb 16th 2013, 12:04 PM

    Got an email during the week from Facebook saying my account was accessed from Belarus. Am I alone?

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    Mute Jason Culligan
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    Feb 16th 2013, 12:57 PM

    Had an email from Google telling me they blocked someone logging in on my gmail from Vietnam a while back. Just a strong reminder that you should change your passwords roughy every 6 months. Make complex passwords and change every 6 months so that, if someone is trying to crack your passwords, by the time they do you’ll have a completely different one.

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    Mute Declan O'Neill
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    Feb 16th 2013, 4:31 PM

    @Jason, so true. Here’s a great page to tell you how strong a chosen password is and how long it would take to crack using brute force.
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    Mute Carl Douglas
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    Feb 16th 2013, 12:04 PM

    Just as Mitt Romney predicted.

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    Mute youdontknowme
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    Feb 16th 2013, 12:12 PM

    China

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    Mute Daniel Murray
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    Feb 16th 2013, 12:33 PM

    The Chinese? Ha ha ha! What a joke!

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    Mute Colm McDonagh
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    Feb 16th 2013, 12:51 PM

    A great bunch of lads!

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