4 PW's
You talk about "uninformed drivel" having said in the same post "I read somewhere that Air France 447's wing touched an A320 rudder".
This happened in 2006!!!! I would call this uninformed or not bothering to check your inputs as so many others do or rather do not do.
Metal fatigue does happen, and has brought down planes in the past. So a bad repair or generally something missed could well be a contributor 3 years later, especially in extreme turbulence no? Not just metal fatigue but there was a case where a tail strike was badly repaired which lead to (correct me if I'm wrong) decompression and an in-flight breakup?
I am uninformed, but I wouldn't dismiss anything in this aircrafts history.