The appearance variation cue captures the variation in texture in a single image. Its use for obstacle avoidance is based on the assumption that there is less such variation when the camera is close to an obstacle. For videos of approaching frontal obstacles, it is demonstrated that combining the cue with optic flow leads to better performance than using either cue alone. In addition, the cue is successfully used to control the 16-g flapping-wing micro air vehicle DelFly II.