I think far simpler explanation is "the back part failed first and engine is making thrust so it just flipped over on now-hinge mounting

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loeg an hour ago | parent | next [-]

That's why it flipped upwards, but not why it flipped towards the body of the plane / to the right.

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mrb 8 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Yup. That's exactly what experts said of American Airlines flight 191 which was basically the same engine mount, same failure. Engine flipping over the wing.

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jsr0 4 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The failure of the pylon appears to be different. On AA 191, the pylon rear bulkhead cracked and came apart. In the case of UPS flight 2976, the pylon rear bulkhead looks to be in one piece, but the mounting lugs at the top of the rear bulkhead cracked.

Admiral Cloudberg has a great article on AA 191 that covers exactly what happened: https://admiralcloudberg.medium.com/rain-of-fire-falling-the...

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dreamcompiler 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

American 191's engine mount failed because of improper maintenance. It remains to be seen whether this failure had the same cause or if it was something else, such as metal fatigue.

	▲	jacobgkau 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		A failure due to metal fatigue would still be a failure to properly maintain the aircraft, right? I know by "improper maintenance," you're referring to actual improper things being done during maintenance, and not simply a lack of maintenance. But I'm reading things like "the next check would've occurred at X miles," and, well... it seems like the schedule for that might need to be adjusted, since this happened.

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inferiorhuman 6 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Flipping backwards is what caused the engine to fly to the right and land to the right of the takeoff runway. The stills in the NTSB preliminary report clearly show the engine flying over the aircraft, to the right, and then heading straight down.