What is the difference between visibility and Runway Visual Range (RVR)?

• A. Wind direction.
• B. General ground visibility.
• C. Runway-specific visibility for landing decisions.
• D. Turbulence intensity.

Answer: (C)

The idea tested here is distinguishing general visibility from the visibility that matters for landing. General visibility describes how far you can see in the overall atmosphere around the airport. It’s a broad measure of the weather that affects flight in general, not tied to a specific location.

Runway Visual Range, or RVR, is a runway-specific visibility measure. It tells you how far you can see along the actual path of the runway—from the approach end through the touchdown zone and rollout end. Because conditions can vary along a runway, RVR is reported for each runway end (and sometimes at multiple points along the runway) and is the primary visibility figure used to make landing and takeoff decisions. It directly informs instrument approach minimums and whether to continue, land, or abort.

So, the difference lies in scope and use: visibility is the general atmospheric visibility, while RVR provides runway-specific visibility used for landing decisions. The other options don’t capture this distinction. Wind direction is a separate meteorological factor, general ground visibility describes the broad visibility level not tied to a runway, and turbulence intensity relates to air motion, not how far you can see down the runway.