Thalass. Yes indeedy. Nothing funnier than watching the FCL punters do their Lemur impressions when an engineer emerges from there!
TOWTEAMBASE. That fairing is just a cover to assist airflow off the fuselage to the wing (learned that in my Corn Flakes Engineering Degree). An impact there, whilst not desirable, would have to be very deep to penetrate the pressurised skin.
Plenty of speculative points but one thing is certain. Boeing build some tough aircraft!
