MS
My point is that the aircarft should have been able to cope with a fuel leak, be it from AAR or a pipe or whatever. Any decent aviator or engineer will tell you that to design a bay that mixes hot air and fuel pipes with no fire suppression or mitigation is, literally, an accident waiting to happen (AAR or not). The Nimrod has been flying like that since day 1 and many of the so-called 'experts' should have spotted it. As did, in fact, the guy who drafted the safety case. Tragically, as a non-operator, he made a critical error in assuming/believing the pipes were cold when airborne.
CLA