Airborne and ground checkpoints consist of certified radials that should be received at specific points on the airport surface or over specific landmarks while airborne in the immediate vicinity of the airport. Locations of these checkpoints are published in the A/FD.

Should an error in excess of ±4° be indicated through use of a ground check, or ±6° using the airborne check, IFR flight shall not be attempted without first correcting the source of the error. No correction other than the correction card figures supplied by the manufacturer should be applied in making these VOR receiver checks.

If a dual system VOR (units independent of each other except for the antenna) is installed in the aircraft, one system may be checked against the other. Turn both systems to the same VOR ground facility and note the indicated bearing to that station. The maximum permissible variation between the two indicated bearings is 4°.

When used in conjunction with the VOR system, DME makes it possible for pilots to determine an accurate geographic position of the aircraft, including the bearing and distance TO or FROM the station. The aircraft DME transmits interrogating radio frequency (RF) pulses, which are received by the DME antenna at the ground facility. The signal triggers ground receiver equipment to respond to the interrogating aircraft. The airborne DME equipment measures the elapsed time between the interrogation signal sent by the aircraft and reception of the reply pulses from the ground station. This time measurement is converted into distance in nautical miles (NM) from the station.

Some DME receivers provide a groundspeed in knots by monitoring the rate of change of the aircraft’s position relative to the ground station. Groundspeed values are accurate only when tracking directly to or from the station.

VOR/DME, VORTAC, ILS/DME, and LOC/DME navigation facilities established by the FAA provide course and distance information from collocated components under a frequency pairing plan. DME operates on frequencies in the UHF spectrum between 962 MHz and 1213 MHz. Aircraft receiving equipment that provides for automatic DME selection assures reception of azimuth and distance information from a common source when designated VOR/DME, VORTAC, ILS/DME, and LOC/DME are selected. Some aircraft have separate VOR and DME receivers, each of which must be tuned to the appropriate navigation facility. The airborne equipment includes an antenna and a receiver.

The pilot-controllable features of the DME receiver include:

Many DMEs are channeled by an associated VHF radio, or there may be a selector switch so a pilot can select which VHF radio is channeling the DME. For a DME with its own frequency selector, use the frequency of the associated VOR/DME or VORTAC station.

The DME identifier is heard as a Morse code identifier with a tone somewhat higher than that of the associated VOR or LOC. It is heard once for every three or four times the VOR or LOC identifier is heard. If only one identifier is heard about every 30 seconds, the DME is functional, but the associated VOR or LOC is not.

The mode switch selects between distance (DIST) or distance in NMs, groundspeed, and time to station. There may also be one or more HOLD functions that permit the DME to stay channeled to the station that was selected before the switch was placed in the hold position. This is useful when you make an ILS approach at a facility that has no collocated DME, but there is a VOR/DME nearby.

Some DMEs correct for slant-range error.

A DME is used for determining the distance from a ground DME transmitter. Compared to other VHF/UHF NAVAIDs, a DME is very accurate. The distance information can be used to determine the aircraft position or flying a track that is a constant distance from the station. This is referred to as a DME arc.