If they banged a wing-tip trying to line up on the centre-line,*they'd have instantly*known about it and cobbed the power to TOGA. However all that would have done was guarantee the cataclysmic extent of the cart-wheeling breakup..... as can be seen from the extent of the wreckage shattering. When the Alitalia crew first saw them looming out of the mist on finals they were banked and in a severely nose down attitude - about to hit in the underrun. That's about what you'd expect from a wing-tip contacting ground or an obstacle.... induced yaw. I had the dubious pleasure in 1973 of watching someone catch a wing spoiler on high tension lines and then a wingtip on the ground and cartwheel..... in my Phoebus C. The pilot's knees were driven past his ears as the nose concertina'd and the canopy was ejected. That sort of fore-aft crumple of nose and fuselage was exactly what happened to this A330-200.
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It's vaguely similar to the 2001 Aspen Colorado bizjet crash. .... where the upslope on runway 15 was 2% and was the factor that would've induced the visual illusion and got them down low on late finals whilst maneuvering to line up (per what likely occurred at Tripoli). It's a deadly trap.
The Aspen Gulfstream Crash
ASN Aircraft accident Gulfstream Aerospace G-1159 Gulfstream III N303GA Aspen Airport, CO (ASE)
On March 29, 2001, a Gulfstream III bizjet crashed on approach to the airport at Aspen, Colo., killing all 15 passengers and three crew members aboard. ...
The Aspen Gulfstream Crash
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2001 Avjet Aspen crash - Wikipedia
The 2001 Avjet Aspen crash occurred on March 29, 2001 when a chartered Avjet Corporation Gulfstream III business jet, registration N303GA, crashed into ...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2001_Avjet_Aspen_crash
Runway 15's 2% upslope:
http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/1005/05889VDGC.PDF
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Runway 15 (the Aspen accident runway) has a quite significant 2% UPSLOPE - i.e. leading to the same type of illusion (and low approach once visual off the VOR NPA) as in Tripoli.
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Looks like the NTSB missed that vital element for the Aspen crash cause.