Ive noticed over the years the airlines often will find someone with emergency experience or people from the defence forces near the emergency exits. I have been asked several times to assist in controlling the evacuation in an emergency If my seat is near an emergency exit.
The only good a seatbelt on an aircraft does is to hold you in during turbulence. But the modern aircraft would be a big problem in an emergency evacuation as it would only take a couple of people to panic and those isles would be blocked. I always thought if someone panics the best thing would be to knock them out if you cant toss them out the door.
