Definition
The set of physical and electronic elements that make up a VOR/DME-based area navigation system. These typically include the aircraft's VOR receiver (which provides bearing from a ground station), the DME receiver (which provides slant-range distance from that station), an RNAV computer that combines those two inputs to calculate the aircraft's position relative to a pilot-defined waypoint, and a course deviation indicator (CDI) that displays guidance to or from that waypoint rather than to or from the VOR/DME station itself.
Plain English
These are the parts of an older area navigation system that uses a VOR station and its distance-measuring equipment to figure out where the aircraft is, and then shows the pilot how to fly to a chosen point in space — not just to the station.
Context Anchor
Seen in instrument flying when studying older area navigation systems that build routes from VOR and DME ground-station signals.
Derivation
RNAV is short for 'area navigation,' meaning navigation along any chosen route within the coverage of ground stations, rather than only directly to or from a station. VOR comes from 'VHF Omnidirectional Range' and DME from 'Distance Measuring Equipment.' Putting the three together describes a system that uses a VOR's bearing and a DME's distance to let the pilot navigate to any point in the area, not just the station itself.
Why Pilots Care
These components allow direct routing between any two points instead of following fixed airways, saving time and fuel while maintaining accurate position awareness.
Intuition Check
Do not think of VOR/DME RNAV as one single instrument. It is a system made of several parts that combine direction, distance, computing, controls, and display information.
Example Sentence 1
During the cockpit check, the instructor pointed out each of the VOR/DME RNAV components and explained how the RNAV computer combined the bearing and distance signals to drive the CDI.
Example Sentence 2
During preflight planning the student verified that the VOR/DME RNAV components were tuned to the correct station pair before departure.