For those too young to remember this is how much metal an old Boeing can lose and still fly. (I like the old Boeings--they are built like trucks. The 737 was designed ten years closer to the B-17 than the 787.)

It did last 89,090 cycles, after being designed to last for 75,000. And I guess it was fortunate the 737-200 does not have any tail mounted engines to be damaged by all that stuff, and have normal engine operation to reach an airport rather than having to ditch. ^