How do you know? That reactor could be unstable enough that a bird strike could possibly blow it all up. And I mean a small ass waxwing would have no trouble flying down a 3 meter wide tube.
I'll have you know that when I was lost and low on fuel, I managed to land on an absolute shit hole of a backwater, barely a sentient being in sight, but those berries?
They got me home. Always fly X-Wing. Runs on anything.