UPS cargo crash near Birmingham AL

[PEI_3721]

mm, an interesting profile diagram. It indicates that at a critical stage of the approach the crew could not have seen the PAPIs as they were obscured by the hill.
This might have been due to a continuous shallow approach, which seems unlikely. However, if the aircraft was flying a stable approach path – VNAV or FPA, or more probable VS, and was ~180ft below the ideal glide path, it would have lost visual contact with the PAPI at ~250ft above the runway some 7000ft before the TDZ.
Thus the situation provided opportunity for a black hole illusion, or ‘press-on-it is’, anticipating other visual references.
See incident #8.