Judah wrote:


And I still strongly suspect that in the event of a "water landing"
neither life vest nor seat cushion is going to help me...

You have that one right. ;-)

Having said that, evacuations can be quite successful with aborted
takeoff and landing overshoots, like the one in Canada..was it last year?

Crew training is predicated on a moderatly damaged aircraft, where most
passengers are still able-bodied, and there is about 2 to 3 minutes
before fire and smoke take over.