Can anyone clear up my lack of understanding as to how the missing data plate was bonded to the component and how that entire bonding could have failed. I have not as yet seen that discussed here
Stainless steel to composite bonds are very easy to get wrong. If the surface is badly prepared, or the operator touched the prepared surface with bare hands, the joint could easily fail. Rarely will a bond on a component like this data plate have 100% adhesion across the face. Once moisture gets inbetween the two components it will freeze at altitude and gradually separate them. After a while, the fillet around the edge may be all that is holding it on. A bit of bashing across a reef may have been the final straw.
I should add that the process of attempting to certificate a GRP and stainless steel aerospace component was how I learned the above. I forget how many tensometer tests we conducted in all, but it went on for several months.