Instructor pilot is not sure if the aircraft was issued an IFR clearance when flying in IMC conditio...

Attributes
ACN	839125
Time
Date	200906
Local Time Of Day	1801-2400
Place
Locale Reference	OAK.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Dusk
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Grumman American Undifferentiated or Other Model
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Initial Approach
Flight Plan	VFR
Person 1
Function	Instructor Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP) Flight Crew Flight Instructor Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 200 Flight Crew Total 9800 Flight Crew Type 5
Events
Anomaly	ATC Issue All Types Inflight Event / Encounter VFR In IMC

Narrative:

I was giving a flight review to a client in his grumman. We did multiple VFR practice approaches then decided to head back to oakland. The oakland ATIS was broadcasting 8000 scattered with visual approaches in use. While still way out near stockton; the norcal controller gave us a heading to intercept the oak 27R localizer. We proceeded for about 20 minutes on that heading towards oakland. When we checked in with the new controller he told us to 'maintain 3;300 until established; cleared for the ILS 27R approach.' I assumed (mistake #1) that the previous controller had put us on an IFR clearance and we were now cleared to operate IMC. On the vector we very briefly went into IMC; and were approaching the edge of the sfo class B airspace. The controller then told us 'descend to 2;500 ft until established on the ILS'. This was a big red flag to me that perhaps we weren't on an IFR clearance. With hindsight; I think we were not cleared IFR and we flew into a brief cloud deck when we shouldn't have. The main problem was the unusual wording of our approach 'clearance' and my faulty assumption that we had been given an IFR clearance.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Instructor pilot is not sure if the aircraft was issued an IFR clearance when flying in IMC conditions.

Narrative: I was giving a flight review to a client in his Grumman. We did multiple VFR practice approaches then decided to head back to Oakland. The Oakland ATIS was broadcasting 8000 scattered with visual approaches in use. While still way out near Stockton; the NorCal Controller gave us a heading to intercept the OAK 27R localizer. We proceeded for about 20 minutes on that heading towards Oakland. When we checked in with the new controller he told us to 'maintain 3;300 until established; cleared for the ILS 27R approach.' I assumed (mistake #1) that the previous controller had put us on an IFR clearance and we were now cleared to operate IMC. On the vector we very briefly went into IMC; and were approaching the edge of the SFO Class B airspace. The controller then told us 'descend to 2;500 FT until established on the ILS'. This was a big red flag to me that perhaps we weren't on an IFR clearance. With hindsight; I think we were not cleared IFR and we flew into a brief cloud deck when we shouldn't have. The main problem was the unusual wording of our approach 'clearance' and my faulty assumption that we had been given an IFR clearance.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.