Definition
A digital file stored within a terrain awareness system that contains the location, height, and type of man-made obstacles such as towers, buildings, antennas, and wind turbines. The system compares the aircraft's position and altitude against this database to generate cautions or warnings when the aircraft is on a path that could result in a collision with a charted obstacle.
Plain English
A built-in list of known tall objects, like towers and antennas, that the aircraft's warning system uses to alert the pilot if the airplane is getting too close to one.
Context Anchor
Seen in terrain alerting system discussions, especially when checking whether the aircraft’s safety system has current information about hazards near the flight path.
Derivation
"Database" comes from "data" (information) plus "base" (a foundation or storage). It simply means an organized collection of stored information — in this case, information specifically about obstacles.
Why Pilots Care
Allows terrain awareness systems to provide timely alerts about structures that could cause controlled flight into terrain.
Intuition Check
Do not assume an obstacle database sees every obstacle in real time. It is stored information about known obstacles, so keeping it current matters.
Example Sentence 1
Before the cross-country flight, the pilot confirmed that the obstacle database in the GPS had been updated within the current cycle.
Example Sentence 2
Updated obstacle database information keeps low-altitude routes safe around new construction.