I'm ex-USAF Life Support tech and Aircrew Survival Instructor.
Occasionally,
flight crew would ask me a similar question - my answer was always the
same: "We
can build a new aircraft in six months. It takes 20-25 years to build a
new you.
Bail."

I take your point completely. Perhaps what I should have asked was "which is
safer". I'm not a whizz on ejection seats (all I can lay claim to fame with
them is sitting in a live one on a couple of occasions) - from what I've
read they certainly have saved a lot of lives - but also many cases of
pilots being killed by them. I'm quite curious to know what the chances of
survival (and without major injuries) would be for a pilot ejecting from a
modern aircraft under "ideal" conditions (eg 200 - 300 knots, not Mach 1.8)
etc.

Have they got to the point where a "pilot in need" flying with one things
thinks "thank god I've got an ejection seat" or is it a case of "do I feel
lucky today" - if you get what I mean.

Off memory I think the survival rate from Escapac seats from our Air Force
was only something like 50%

CC