Although there are things that make me believe they were using V/S, the fact of the matter is we still don't know what mode they were in. At this point, this is easily the biggest question about the accident for me.
You said it better than I did. Thanks.
JW:
... an NPA is designed so that you can find the airport and then make a visual adjustment to find the runway and land or else make a go-around at the MAP.
While true, the LOC to 18 is built to take you to the runway ... per the approach plate. No offset. As you point out, it isn't meant to take you to touchdown (industry best practice of CDA considered ... ).