B738 loses part of the vertical stab
 

The leading edge of the H stab has hit something too.

Possibly the part of the vertical that came off... Hard to imagine that could be the result of a bird strike or similar.

I'm thinking someone forgot to reinstall some fasteners after maintenance.

Interestingly, the aircraft has been active in recent days so it's not coming straight out of storage: https://flightaware.com/live/flight/N820TJ/history

NTSB now considering it an accident at Victorville - NTSB Identification: DCA20CA107

Is there a similar AD for the NG as the 300-500?

"2009-07-11 - The FAA is superseding an existing airworthiness directive (AD), which applies to all Boeing Model 737-300, -400, and -500 series airplanes. That AD currently requires repetitive inspections for discrepancies of the fuselage skin under the dorsal fin assembly, and repairing if necessary. This new AD requires an inspection for any chafing or crack in the fuselage skin and abrasion resistant coating at the dorsal fin landing, an inspection for damage to the dorsal fin seals, attach clip, and seal retainer, and other specified and corrective actions as necessary. The new requirements will end the need for the existing repetitive inspections. This AD results from a report of an 18-inch crack found in the fuselage skin area under the blade seals of the nose cap of the dorsal fin due to previous wear damage, and additional reports of fuselage skin wear. We are issuing this AD to prevent discrepancies of the fuselage skin, which could result in fatigue cracking due to cabin pressurization and consequent rapid in-flight decompression of the airplane fuselage"

I think you're probably correct !

This shot appears to show more damage to the leading edge of the port horizontal stabiliser.

https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl...ce=sh%2Fx%2Fim

Wow. Boeing....can it get any worse. The last 20 years of management should be hung from lampposts. Tragic.

Not sure how you can blame the Boeing management - it looks like someone forgot to put the screws back in so it wouldnt make any difference who built the aircraft. If it were an Airbus the panels would still have fallen off.