A side note regarding composites. My understanding is that the tail is made from carbon fiber or a simular material?
Recent day Indy racing cars are also made of a carbon fiber material. A few years ago, racing politics resulted in a number of year old/2 yr old/3 yr old chassis that normally would have been retired after a single season being called back into service. What is interesting is that the manufacturers put out warnings that the chassis were being used (and repaired) well past their design limits, and that there could be problems including delamination.
At the time many of us felt this warning was political in nature, but recent events make me wonder if they did suspect a possible problem.