RE: 'Satellite Nav'Butch....after reading your posts, I'd certainly conclude that you are very well intentioned and sincere in your points of view.
However, there is no question that you misunderstand the connection between the operator being able to track his asset and the operational navigation of the aircraft.
Do you really believe that ''someone'' ( operational or maintenance type ) sitting in an office some hundreds or thousands of miles away at a computer or cellphone is going to monitor every moment of the flight and then is
actually going to know if the A/C is on course or not......and is then going to ''suggest'' to the pilot that he's a whisker off and better amend his course!!! Possibly you don't understand the responsibility and authority of the flight crew to conduct a safe flight.
Possibly you underestimate the capabilities of the Flight Management Computer and the Flight Management System...the use of VNAV and LNAV.....the Auto Flight System.....all systems put in place to provide the most accurate navigation and finite management of the precious commodity called fuel.. Compound that with the fact that pilots are clever ,efficient folks. They're always looking to shave a mile or two....always trying for direct routings to cut a corner and save a $buck. Throw in the need to circumnavigate severe weather......accept off course vectors from ATC to facilitate other conflicting traffic...... the vagaries of speed restrictions and indeterminate 'Holds' when traffic in the terminal area is congested.....I could go on at length!!!!!
And you actually believe some 'clerk' in an office who hasn't signed his name on the flight plan...which the crew do and thereby accept ultimate responsibility...is in a position to determine what all these distant interactions are....and then come to the grand conclusion that the A/C is off course....... and is then going to have some input to alter its course????????????
This technology ( AFIRS ) has its merits but don't read something into it that just doesn't apply.
I certainly defer to your right to think and believe as you choose ......it's hard enough to make a value decision when one understands the product......but self delusion is a terrible thing to wilfully inflict on oneself.