then very few left by following the fire exists - they mostly went out the way they came in.
Looked into this on some training I had at work
Creatures of habit!
it's a well known fact in a fire prople will not use the nearest exit but use what they are used to, alarm volumes have to be so loud as to hurt and encourage the "run away" reaction.
tried a fire drill once where the normal exit was phsically blocked by furniture and a smoke machine- the reaction furniture moved and danger ignored. Habits are bad to break.
I would suggest that the only advantages in the a/c situation is 1/prescence of crew shouting/directing & 2/ normal exit is emergency exit (apart from over wings - not used though) IMO the initial delay is the difference between I expect steps & you really want me to slide down this!