SoS;
Anyway, the point I am making is that in the absence of any other limiting factors, if the controller could see the landing lights from the tower, the flight crew should have been able to see the PAPIs at half that distance.
The line of sight along the PAPIs ends at the touch down zone, right?
If then, we know they impacted a hillside, that means they vere below the top of the hill. The runway on the other side of the hill is well below the top of the hill, don't remember by how many foot. That means they could NOT see the PAPIs in the moment before they impacted the hillside. Have anyone done some triangulation calculations to see if the top of the hill also was blocking the line of sight to the PAPIs so they couldnt see the PAPIs when they cut the first threes? Maybe they vere too low so early that they never saw the PAPIs?