Definition
The controls, displays, and input devices through which a pilot interacts with an avionics system or flight management computer to enter data, select modes, retrieve information, and monitor system status.
Plain English
The buttons, knobs, screens, and keypads a pilot uses to talk to the airplane's electronic systems and to see what those systems are doing.
Context Anchor
Seen in discussions of airborne navigation databases, especially where the handbook explains that the same database information may be shown or selected differently on different cockpit systems.
Derivation
Interface' comes from Latin 'inter' (between) and 'facies' (face or surface). It literally means 'the surface between two things' — in this case, the surface between the pilot and the avionics system, where information passes both ways.
Why Pilots Care
Limitations in these interfaces can restrict how quickly or accurately a pilot can load or verify route data, increasing the chance of database-related errors during flight planning or in-flight changes.
Intuition Check
Do not think of “interface” as only a computer screen. Here it means every part of the cockpit system the pilot uses to communicate with the navigation equipment, including buttons, knobs, menus, and displays.
Example Sentence 1
Each GPS unit has its own pilot interface, so a pilot moving between aircraft must know how to enter a flight plan on each one.
Example Sentence 2
Limited pilot interfaces on older units made it difficult to enter a last-minute route amendment.