The Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) indicates the distance from an aircraft to the DME ground station, commonly referred to as?

The Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) provides a measurement known as "slant range," which is the straight-line distance from the aircraft to the DME ground station. This measurement includes both the horizontal distance and the vertical distance (altitude) between the aircraft and the station, resulting in the diagonal distance, or slant range. This information is crucial for pilots during navigation and is used to assess their position relative to the ground stations for safe and accurate flight operations.

In contrast to slant range, altitude specifically refers to how high the aircraft is above sea level, while ground range would only consider the horizontal distance over the ground without accounting for the vertical component. Therefore, while "the distance" could be a general term, it does not capture the specific nature of the measurement provided by DME, which is inherently a slant range calculation.