Originally Posted by White Bear
I am a normal heterosexual male, but in this instance I would happily forgo the nubile female in favour of a 200 lb fit male who would be quite capable of dragging my 185 lb stunned arse out of a crashed airliner, and then go back for more.
I'm not sure I completely go with the above but I certainly agree with you that the pertinent point here is maximising survivors from survivable accidents. Crew training may give them a slight edge all other factors being equal but those other things will not be equal; the biggest delineator is always going to be how people respond in a "crisis". Now, you can't test people's reaction to extreme stress every time they get on a plane but I do worry at some of the people I've seen allowed to sit in the emergency exit rows. I forget which airline it was - I suspect it may have been BMI as I used to use them regularly but haven't for a while, although it may just be something EZY used to do but don't any more - but simply pointing out to people that they have chosen to sit in an emergency exit row and informing them of their responsibilities and directing them to study the procedures is in itself a bit of a self-selector. I've seen people moved due incapacity and I've also seen people self-select themselves out of an emergency exit row when their potential responsibilities have been pointed out to them. I'm thinking this is a good thing.