I took the operator's identification from a discussion in the blog that follows AvHerald's own posting.
In any case, aerodynamic parts falling off a 744, especially when there's a chance of secondary damage to the airframe, seems like a matter worth a bit more discussion.
The blog included comments like
I know its not good to speculate but as I understand it, flap track corrosion is a common finding during heavy checks and it is a pretty in depth repair to replace one.
and
The fore flap failed and bounced off the fuselage. A fore flap track was left in the the fuselage, as in hole through fuselage. This has happened before.
. No way to judge the qualifications of the posters, of course.
Hopefully the community quiet is due to recognition that this is a one-off oopsie of no real consequence, although 'no real (potential) consequence' is hard to get wrapped up into my thinking.