Definition
A digitally rendered, three-dimensional image of the outside world shown on a cockpit display, built from terrain, obstacle, and airport databases combined with the aircraft's position, attitude, and heading. It is generated by the avionics system rather than captured by a camera or sensor, and is used as part of a Synthetic Vision Guidance System (SVGS) to give the pilot a clear visual picture of the surroundings regardless of actual outside visibility.
Plain English
A picture of the world outside the aircraft that the computer draws on a cockpit screen, using stored map data and the airplane's current position, so the pilot can see terrain, runways, and obstacles even when the real view is blocked by cloud or darkness.
Context Anchor
Seen in Synthetic Vision Guidance System descriptions, especially when discussing displays used during instrument approaches and low-visibility operations.
Derivation
Synthetic comes from the Greek synthetikos, meaning 'put together' or 'composed.' The image is not real in the sense of being seen or photographed; it is assembled by the computer from data. Depiction simply means a visual representation. Together the phrase signals: a constructed picture, not a live view.
Why Pilots Care
Improves situational awareness and reduces the risk of controlled flight into terrain during low-visibility approaches.
Analogy
It is like a car navigation screen that draws the road ahead using map data. The screen is useful, but it is not the same thing as looking through the windshield.
Grounding Statement
Imagine flying through cloud at night and still seeing a smooth, color-shaded view of the hills, valleys, and runway ahead on your panel display, drawn from a stored map of the world rather than a window view.
Intuition Check
“Synthetic” does not mean false or unreliable here. It means the picture is created by the system from data instead of being a direct camera view or the pilot’s actual outside view.
Example Sentence 1
On the approach into the mountain airport, the computer-generated synthetic depiction on the primary flight display showed the surrounding terrain clearly, even though the view outside was solid cloud.
Example Sentence 2
Pilots use the computer-generated synthetic depiction to maintain awareness of rising terrain while flying in clouds.