A method for displaying information on a flight deck display element of an aircraft begins by obtaining a user interface command that represents a user-entered selection of a designated target. Relevant data is accessed and processed in response to this command, including aircraft status data for the aircraft, terrain data corresponding to terrain proximate the designated target, and graphics data corresponding to the designated target. Then, a target-focused display is rendered on the flight deck display element. The target-focused display includes a real-time synthetic perspective view of the designated target and the terrain proximate the designated target, wherein content of the target-focused display is influenced by the aircraft status data, the terrain data, and the graphics data.