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Collision avoidance is of concern to all aircraft, requiring the detection and identification of hazardous terrain or obstacles in sufficient time for clearance maneuvers. The collision avoidance requirement is even more demanding for helicopters, as their unique capabilities result in extensive operations at low-altitude, near to terrain and hazardous obstacles. To augment the pilot's visual collision avoidance abilities, some aircraft are equipped with “enhanced-vision” systems or terrain collision warning systems. Enhanced-vision systems typically project raw images from infrared or radar sensors, and can require a high degree of pilot interpretation and attention, as the sensor returns may be sparse and are devoid of memory from previous sensor returns. Terrain collision warning systems rely on stored terrain maps that are of low resolution and accuracy which do not represent hazards to the aircraft placed after map sampling.