Photographs of the item 640 skin show that many longitudinal scratches (fore to aft) existed on the faying surface of the skin. An attempt to blend out of these scratches was also apparent from the rework sanding marks found on the repaired surfaces. Those scratches and sanding marks were consistent with the 1980 tail strike event of the accident aircraft. The scratches caused discontinuity of the skin and stress concentration termed “stress risers.” The laboratory observations showed that the main fatigue crack and most of the MSD aft and forward were initiated from the scratches that existed at or just beyond the peripheral row of fasteners common to the repair doubler. Figure 2.2-6 shows the longitudinal scratch on the faying surface of the skin near hole 20 where fatigue crack initiation occurred from multiple origins.The fatigue crack pattern of Item 640 differs from traditional crack patterns. The standard cracking configuration assumes those cracks grow forward and/or aft 148 from hole to hole. But the crack configuration of Item 640 identified in the laboratories does not show any evidence of forward-aft striations within the flat-fracture fatigue areas. Instead, the crack growth pattern on Item 640 shows an increasing growth rate through thickness (Figure 2.2-7). This can be attributed to the cracks growing from many origins on the skin surface at the scratch locations and propagating inward. While the number of cycles required for the cracks to propagate through the skin thickness was determined as indicated in the BMT report, it was not possible to determine when in the aircraft history these particular cycles occurred. Thus, it was not possible to determine when the crack first penetrated the entire skin thiCKNESS