"Steven P. McNicoll"
Ask for the clearance. You're in violation without it. ATC should know
better.

Yeah, you're in violation of the letter of the law and ATC should know
better. But the controller you're talking to is pretty much the only
person that's in a position to file a violation, and controllers tend to
dislike paperwork. Pressing the issue doesn't seem worth the frequency
clutter to me.

I'm not normally paranoid, but I always ask for a stated clearance even when
I'm sure the controller just forgot to say the words. I've asked for SVFR
before and the controller missed it even though it was obvious I wanted it.
The controller asked me to re-state the request. It was a very similar
situation to what we're talking about. Something like:

CXXX tower this is GXXX with information X

GXXX, CXXX tower, go ahead

GXXX is 7 nm NE, inbound landing, requesting SVFR please.

GXXX, visibility is 3 miles, SVFR is required

I understand and I've requested it.

please repeat the request.

CXXX tower, GXXX requests SVFR.

SVFR granted. Call left base for runway XX.

I think clearance procedures should be held to the highest standard.

moo