L-38 – No I would not be surprised at all, that is why I made my previous comment. Why have so many parts been falling off your B-747 freighters and of course many other aircraft types?
Are the reasons actually being properly investigated by each airline, airworthiness authority and manufacturer concerned and are effective corrective actions actually being taken to help reduce such failures?
Is it usually always just simply a case of someone not closing or installing such panels and parts correctly? If so why are such basic mistakes continually being made? Is it due to very poor maintenance standards, bad fastener/panel designs, deficiencies in Maintenance Manual installation instructions, etc?
Or is it because such panels and fasteners are being installed with excessively worn, corroded, cracked, incorrect or badly damaged parts? If so are such parts being correctly inspected and repaired? For example, are the aircraft maintenance program inspection tasks and inspection periodicities appropriate for each airlines aircraft types, particularly when considering the age of the parts and their supporting structure, etc?
Some people do not realise what damage panels or other parts (particularly large ones) can cause if they strike the aircraft downstream from the point of detachment. That was why I was originally trying to make the point that it is good that proper investigations take place to identify the true reasons why panels/parts detach from aircraft in flight.