Pilotboyy said:
The approach into runway 20 is anything but a straight in approach. There is no such thing as a 10 mile or even 5 mile straight in approach because of the hills to your left. You are doing a visual approach from right base and constantly turning to align yourself with the runway and only the last mile or so are you actually completely aligned with the runway.
If you look at the approach charts from page two of the thread you can see what he's saying. There are at least two major obstacles (one at 1,356' and the other at 3,566') that are very close to the final approach path to 20. It's a tight, curving approach from the north-west with a very short final and I can see why a PAPI wouldn't be a great deal of use.
But then, the 'main runway' is deemed to be 02 which has an ILS, GS and a PAPI.
So which runway were they approaching? Reports are that the crash site is to the north of the island but an approach to 20 or a go 'round from 02 would put the aircraft towards the north-west.