Dusting the cobwebs off

Wire is structure:
Wings without wire would not be wings. Strong wire cables are the structure that gives strength and support to a microlight wing. In proper terminology it is called rigging. In common language it is called “the wires”.
There are the upper wires. They join the leading edge, keel and cross bars to the top of the king post. These wires stop the wing from drooping and collapsing whilst the microlight is on the ground.
There are the lower wires. Wire cables join the control bar to the front and back of the keel (the flying wires) and to each side of the wing cross bar (the side wires). These wires control the wing in flight and provide the primary bracing for positive flight loads.
There are the spreader pull back cables. These wires hold the cross bars back along the keel like a loaded crossbow to keep the wing’s leading edges under tension, and spread apart.
Take away any of these wires and the wing will not work. The wing is wired together. The pilot must, wonder about wire, when working with wings!
Then there is the trike base, it too is wired together.
Most of the weight in a microlight, when it is on the ground, is sitting on the back wheels of the trike base. Wire keeps the wheels tensioned, supported, and apart, so that they can carry this ground weight.
Student pilots, new to microlights, quickly notice the two tensioned wire cables between the back wheels, making a strong triangle with the drag link braces.
The undercarriage struts themselves, are kept in triangular strength by wire cables tensioning them with the mast pole and the seat framework.
Wire holds the trike together. Take away this wire, and the base will collapse like a legless bird.
It is little wonder that uninitiated people often scoff at the microlight pilot with comments like, “Fly in those things? No Way! They are just wired together.”
Well, yes, they are wired together. In a microlight, structural wire is wonderful stuff.