Originally Posted by USMCFLYR

A long time - so don't hold your breath on that KC.
I'm sorry if you seem to think my job isn't important.
You asked a question and I gave you an example.
I think we might have had this type of conversation in the pass when I mentioned that as a former tanker pilot, I would think you would have a greater understanding of the *support* required for YOU to accomplish your job. How far do you think you would get without the cast of thousands of supporting actors everyday KC?

The legacy NAS is still going to be around for probably the rest of my career - but who do you think is a part of getting all those RNAV procedures up and running too.
Yep - my organization is a last part in that cog too so I'm sure when the NDBs are gone - I'll still be checking other navigation systems.

Yep - life of an airline pilot - AND you still think you are underpaid

As to your other question, it is at least partly because not everyone is using RNAV. The NAS has to support ALL users - not just the airlines. Also - as you well know, GPS can be jammed and also has periods of unavailablility. Legacy NAS systems often backup those procedures.
For a more legal interpretation of the issues and why the FAA cares about this or that - I'd have to refer you to the policy makers. I am part of a flying crewdriver that makes sure things are working according to the tolerences set by those policy makers and to find problems in the system, and then in conjunction with other supporting players, we fix the system and ensure that it is operating back up to standards. Here is a blurb of our mission statement: