As a relic from the past, I always ask on JQ to put me there. And as I travel a lot, the staff at the Goldie just about do it automatically. For a start I know how to open the bloody thing, I am also fairly strong despite my passing years. If you are on staff travel, chances are you will be put there anyway (unless your leg is in a plaster cast.) As far as I am concerned should you prang, the whole thing becomes a exit as far as I can see. I cannot see much difference in the training, between us and them, though we did not have to battle the companies to keep standards up. The airline companies up to the late nineties put safety before profit, it would appear the wheel has fallen off there, (think 400 hr F/Os and non LAME dispatched flights) unheard of in our era. I think the pilots, CC and Engineers are just as safety conscious as we were, but we did not have dickheads for managers.