Steven P. McNicoll wrote:
"Christopher C. Stacy" wrote in message
...
When he gave you the clearance for the approach, did he say
"Maintain VFR?" If not, you were really IFR.


No. You're really IFR when you hear "Cleared to..."

I once requested a practice approach with a student, and the controller
asked if I wanted to do it VFR or IFR. I replied that I preferred VFR,
and he gave me an altitude to climb to. I told him that if he wanted us
there, we'd have to do it IFR. His response? "Ok, you're IFR then.
Climb and maintain 5000." It's really hard to teach correct phraseology
to a student with instructions like that. Student and I had a really
long talk on the ground later.