An aircraft display system (100) includes a first device (102) providing (402) flight data of a selected flight path of an aircraft (214), a device (106, 114) providing (404) a plurality of data points representative of the terrain (302) below the selected flight path, a processor (104) generating (406) display commands from the flight data and the plurality of data points, and a display (116) coupled to receive the display commands and operable to render (408) in a perspective view an icon representative of the aircraft (214) and the terrain (302) near the aircraft (214).