When do RV become “screw it, I’m doing what I want?”:
A: Whenever you think you’re close enough to the imaginary floating red cone
B: Whenever you decide that ATC has forgotten about you
C: When you don’t realize that the reason you’re last in line is because you intentionally stayed above the airspace until 10 miles out in an attempt to overtake everyone else and didn’t realize you had an attentive controller.
D: Never.
The correct answer is of course A.
I’m kidding. The answer is D. Just because you’re close to the cone doesn’t mean that I’m not just taking you above the other traffic (did it occur to you that there was 2000 miles of separation intentionally?) and bringing you back around. Just seeing the imaginary floating visual aid doesn’t mean “woohoo, imma crash right down on top of this guy I just heard cleared because obviously that is the controller’s intent. I’m not even gonna bother asking. I’m sure that’s what his plan was.”