Structural failure - what, why, and how likely?
Hello! This is my first post after many years of lurking...
Why don't the wings fall off? Or rather, what causes structural failure in small aircraft? I know that the wings don't fall off planes very often, but sometimes the wings do fall off, and I don't know how to deal with this fact!
I've had lessons in a C42 and a CT. I've also been up in a Grob, a Cub, a couple of Cessnas, some bizjets and even a Harvard, so I wouldn't say I was scared of flying. But I don't know what I have to do to prevent catastrophic failure in the aircraft's structure, and I don't know (for example) how much turbulence could shake a fixed-wing microlight apart. A couple of years ago I was passengering in an AX3 and the windscreen folded in around 400ft into our initial climb. The pilot got us back to base, albeit with the door flaps hanging off, but it makes me wonder what else can go wrong on these little flying machines. I'm instinctively nervous about structural failure, and instinctively reassured by the presence of a ballistic parachute, but seems to be the opposite of what experienced pilots think.
I like microlights but what stops them falling apart? Are they less sound than a Cessna? How am I supposed to be confident in the wings not falling off when sometimes the wings do fall off!?
Am I being a massive wet blanket?