Narrative:

I went to take a multiengine checkride. After a thorough oral; my designated pilot examiner (dpe) decided we would go fly. Upon contacting ground; we were told to contact clearance delivery. I contacted clearance delivery to get clearance out of the class C airspace; telling them we wanted to be a north bound departure to do some maneuvers. After talking to ground to get a taxi to the active; we contacted tower to takeoff. We were cleared to climb out at 3;000 to the north. Upon reaching 3;000; we asked to climb to 4;500 where we would proceed to do our maneuvers. Here is where the confusion began. My dpe and I thought we were a VFR aircraft; while apparently; the tower had filed and put us on an IFR flight plan. Once we were clear of the outer ring; we began a steep turn to the left. About a quarter of the way through; ATC called us and told us to fly a northerly heading. After turning to that heading; ATC asked us why we had deviated from our original heading; then proceeded to give us a possible pilot deviation. Later in the flight; again still thinking we were a VFR aircraft; we descended out of 4;500 to 4;000 to set up for some ILS approaches. Upon landing; we called the number we were given. He asked if I understood what we did wrong; which I said I sort of did. He explained what we did; and upon talking to him; we realized that the tower had put us on an IFR flight plan; which we hadn't asked for. For this flight; I was a multiengine student pilot on a checkride. After reaching the outer ring of that airport's class C; my examiner told me to begin my steep turns. I complied and began doing them as he asked. Also; had we been told we were on an IFR flight plan; we would have never deviated from our heading. This whole incident was a just a big miscommunication as I previously stated. We thought we were a VFR aircraft receiving a clearance out of the class C; not an IFR aircraft receiving an IFR flight plan out of the class C.I was told by approach that when we turned for our steep turn that put us close to another aircraft. We were never given a traffic advisory by ATC for the aircraft passing off to our left. Had we have known that traffic was going to pass us; we would have never initiated the turn. Also; if a small turn put two aircraft in proximity that makes it seem like tower/approach are releasing aircraft awfully close to each other.overall; this whole incident was just a big miscommunication between us; tower; and approach. Neither my dpe nor I meant for what happened today to happen.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A pilot and his examiner took off with a clearance out of Class C and began Commercial licensing maneuvers. Unknown to the pilots; ATC had filed an IFR flight plan and threatened a track deviation violation.

Narrative: I went to take a multiengine checkride. After a thorough oral; my Designated Pilot Examiner (DPE) decided we would go fly. Upon contacting ground; we were told to contact clearance delivery. I contacted clearance delivery to get clearance out of the Class C airspace; telling them we wanted to be a north bound departure to do some maneuvers. After talking to ground to get a taxi to the active; we contacted tower to takeoff. We were cleared to climb out at 3;000 to the North. Upon reaching 3;000; we asked to climb to 4;500 where we would proceed to do our maneuvers. Here is where the confusion began. My DPE and I thought we were a VFR aircraft; while apparently; the Tower had filed and put us on an IFR flight plan. Once we were clear of the outer ring; we began a steep turn to the left. About a quarter of the way through; ATC called us and told us to fly a northerly heading. After turning to that heading; ATC asked us why we had deviated from our original heading; then proceeded to give us a possible pilot deviation. Later in the flight; again still thinking we were a VFR aircraft; we descended out of 4;500 to 4;000 to set up for some ILS approaches. Upon landing; we called the number we were given. He asked if I understood what we did wrong; which I said I sort of did. He explained what we did; and upon talking to him; we realized that the Tower had put us on an IFR flight plan; which we hadn't asked for. For this flight; I was a multiengine student pilot on a checkride. After reaching the outer ring of that airport's Class C; my examiner told me to begin my steep turns. I complied and began doing them as he asked. Also; had we been told we were on an IFR flight plan; we would have never deviated from our heading. This whole incident was a just a big miscommunication as I previously stated. We thought we were a VFR aircraft receiving a clearance out of the Class C; not an IFR aircraft receiving an IFR flight plan out of the Class C.I was told by approach that when we turned for our steep turn that put us close to another aircraft. We were never given a traffic advisory by ATC for the aircraft passing off to our left. Had we have known that traffic was going to pass us; we would have never initiated the turn. Also; if a small turn put two aircraft in proximity that makes it seem like tower/approach are releasing aircraft awfully close to each other.Overall; this whole incident was just a big miscommunication between us; tower; and approach. Neither my DPE nor I meant for what happened today to happen.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.