Plain English Meaning

These are the lines of coded data that tell your navigation system about every airport, fix, route, and approach in the world. They are written in a fixed format so that any avionics box can read them the same way.

Full Definition

Standardized data entries used to encode navigation information — such as airports, runways, navaids, waypoints, airways, and instrument procedures — in a common format that avionics manufacturers and database providers use to load navigation databases into FMS, GPS, and flight management computers. ARINC 424 is the industry specification that defines the structure, fields, and rules for these records.