Plain English Meaning

The lowest altitude you are allowed to fly along a route segment when you are navigating with RNAV equipment. It keeps you clear of terrain and obstacles and ensures your navigation signals work reliably for that whole segment.

Full Definition

The lowest published altitude on an airway segment that guarantees both acceptable RNAV (area navigation) signal reception and obstacle clearance over the entire segment when the aircraft is navigating by RNAV. On charts, an RNAV MEA is identified by the suffix 'G' (for GNSS-based RNAV routes) and applies only to aircraft using RNAV for , rather than to aircraft -based on the same airway.