I've always wondered that too: in an actual emergency, how easy would it be to escape out of an overwing exit on, say, an MD-80.

I usually fly AA, I usually fly short segments in coach, and I'm almost always in seat 21D or F - next to an overwing exit. I would be the first or second person out the door. But I find myself wondering "How would ten or fifteen people get out of this aircraft quickly through this little hole?"

On the larger aircraft (757's and up), I am usually seated next to or pretty near a full-sized door, so I wonder about it less. It's the long narrowbodies that appear to me to be the toughest to escape in an emergency. I know they have done tests to prove that X people can get out in Y seconds (fast enough to make the FAA happy) with the row of seats there, so I don't think they will ever remove the row unless the FAA says "You have to be able to get out faster."

Anyone know how they do those tests? I remember hearing a story (urban legend?) about how Boeing wanted to get the 777 rated for 407 passengers, but could only get 406 because one of the volunteers for the "escape" test freaked out and wouldn't jump down the slide. Does Boeing get to hand-select and run the volunteers through dress rehearsals, or do they have to be random people (with a mix of elderly and children) with no prior experience getting out of an airplane in a hurry?