I THINK THAT JOB SECURITY MAY HAVE A CONTRIBUTING FACTOR. I MEAN WITH TODAYS MODERN AIRCRAFT THE SOFTWARE INSTALLED MEANS THE PILOT(S) HAVE MORE THAN ENOUGH INFO AT THEIR FINGERTIPS TO MAKE MAINTROL ALMOST REDUNDANT
Coming from an engineer (as your profile states) that was the biggest load of bunkum I have read in a while
Firstly Maintrol have more that enough work without resorting to advising crews on aircraft status in the air. In fact I would hazard a guess that you have never worked in Maintrol or indeed as a Line Engineer at all....
Secondly modern aircraft are no less susceptable to electrical glitches/sporadic defects etc...and often this means a radio call to Maintrol (or back to the outgoing line station) for maybe simply some re-assurance/advice on a particular indication.