Plain English Meaning

An instrument procedure is broken into pieces, and each piece is one segment. The navigation database stores each piece separately so the avionics can fly them one after another.

Full Definition

Defined sections of an instrument procedure stored in a navigation database, each representing a specific portion of the flight path such as the initial approach, intermediate, final approach, or missed approach segment. The database holds the path, course, altitude, and termination point for each segment so the avionics can sequence through them automatically.

Context Anchor

Seen in discussions of airborne navigation databases, especially how store and information.