In the last week i've had to deal with several incidents of structural damage, one requiring Airbus input. Both caused down route, both during loading. Unfortunately with engineers / mechanics being removed from the headset / final pre push back walkround this type of incident occurs regularly.
On UK departures the push back teams from the hadling companies are very good at spotting any abnormalities but at outstations, for what ever reasons, this is just missed or ignored.
It is no fault of the flight crews. They carry out their pre flight inspection on arriving at the aircraft (longhaul) or as soon as passengers are off (shorthaul turnrounds) due to time constraints on their work in the flight deck. I'm also not sure that the awareness to possible damage present to aircraft structure is taught to flight crews on pre flight checks as much as it could be.
Seems to me that several problems need to addressed by airlines/handling companies/CAA's... better training for all concerned, engineers at each arrival/deprture station and bigger bump strips on steps ang baggage loading vehicles!
Roll on the plastic Boeing with bandaid structural repairs to the fuselage.