Why isn't satelite technology used to compile "black box" data instead of searching a plane crash site?

Question

makes sense to me, what's up with that?

Answer 1

You mean having the data recorder send it's information to a satellite?  That has been considered, but it's pretty expensive.  The airlines don't make much money off of your discounted tickets, so they would have to be forced to put the technology on the aircraft.  I'm sure people want anti-missile systems on aircraft too, but it's also just not cost effective.

Answer 2

hopefully at the crash site still might be survivors which would LOVE to be rescued before they happenn to be the main dish of local predators and parasites.

the homing beacons LET and others do not have sufficient power nor the bandwith toe transmit the FDR data via some kind of datalink.

finally some (!) tests give us a reasonable chance that planes will be able to transmit their FDR data live while flying, much like the telemetrics of the space craft. However the data is not that important immediately, as the locating and rescue of the survivors is.

Answer 3

Flight data recorders gather far more information then waht one would be able to determine from satelite data (ie speed,position,altitude)

In addition the flight data recorders also record aircraft data, control inputs, cockpit conversations and much much more ...