I believe the reason major parts go flying off so frequently in AH is so that planes actually get shot down.
In AH, no one bails as soon as their plane takes some minor damage, they will continue to fight, either to get a kill before they go down, or to try and make it home. We basically know the aircraft is lost, but what's the harm in trying?
In RL, how many would stay in their airplane if half the wing got torn off, or if they had just taken heavy damage to engine(s) and aircraft structure? Most likely, the pilot would bail out while the plane was still somewhat stable. He knew it would be too late once the plane got into a death spiral.
In AH, you can bail out at any speed, no matter what is happening, even at speeds in excess of 400MPH in a 1 wing sprial dive. If you tried that in RL, you would either not be able to get out, or would die as you hit the slip-stream or as the wrekage smashed into you.
Basically, in RL a heavily damaged aircraft was usually abandonded even if control 'Might' have still been possible. This is certainly not the case in AH so damage effect is exagerated to compensate.
