Quote:
Took a flight from LAS-IAD recently and decided to follow along using ForeFlight on my iPad. Took a guess at the arrival we'd be using and programmed it in. I never use arrivals so this was the first time I noticed there was one named after Redskins legends (GIBBZ2) and I was pretty happy that we flew it in.
I started following somewhere over Kansas and we went in a direct line to the start of the arrival procedure over the Charleston, WV VOR. Is it common to get a direct leg that long? Do you still have a requirement to file a point within the first 200nm of every ARTCC you pass through?
I've never heard of the requirement you mention, but I wouldn't doubt something like that exists.
Were you taking the red-eye flight to IAD? I flew the red-eye from LAS to JFK many, many times last year and it was pretty common to be given direct to Wilkes-Barre, PA (LVZ) by L.A. Center. Sometimes we'd decline the clearance because our dispatcher had a note on our flight plan telling us not to accept a direct routing, for purposes of weather avoidance en route.
For flights during the daytime, a direct clearance across the country is pretty rare.