miker71 said:

I googled

"In emergencies, the X-wing's Guidenhauser ejection seat can throw the pilot clear of the fighter. Separator charges blast the cockpit canopy free, and also launch the astromech unit from the socket"

http://www.starwars.com/databank/starship/xwing/

and what happens to a human in space

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question540.htm

aah......

today i gave this a bit more thought, and its perfectly understandable that porkins would try to stay with his ship, after all who would want to be wafting around above a giant battle station that may well explode like a supernova?there were no rescue ships as far as i could tell, in the rebel fleet and another comparison i thought of was pilots in the pacific in WW2. if they baled out of a stricken plane there was no real guarantee they would be picked up, and space is a lot bigger than the pacific!

p.s. although if you could reach a earth type planet in time you could then bale out

but thats taking a hell of a chance with your life!