Plain English Meaning

Checking that the aircraft's radio compass is pointing to the right ground station before you rely on it for navigation. You tune the station, listen for its Morse code identifier to confirm it is the right one, and make sure the needle is pointing where it should from where you know you are.

Full Definition

A pre-flight or in-flight verification that an aircraft's Automatic Direction Finder (ADF) receiver is correctly indicating the bearing to a Non-Directional Beacon (NDB), performed by tuning the station, identifying it by its Morse code identifier, and confirming the needle points to the station from a known position.

Context Anchor

Used before relying on an NDB for navigation, especially before flying an .