IFR C650 WITH A80 AT 4000 FT ON VECTORS FOR VISUAL APCH IS QUESTIONED BY LZU LCL CTLR AS TO POSSIBLE UNAUTHORIZED CLASS D ENTRY.

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WE RECEIVED AN IFR CLRNC OVER THE PHONE FROM ATL APCH CTL FOR OUR FLT. WE HAD A CLRNC VOID TIME OF XA35Z. WE DEPARTED WELL WITHIN LIMITS AT XA20Z. WE WERE GIVEN RADAR VECTORS AND HDGS TO LZU. ABOUT 4 MI FROM THE ARPT; APCH CTL GAVE US A TA OF AN ACFT 1000 FT BELOW US HDG OUR DIRECTION; TYPE OF ACFT UNKNOWN. APCH VECTORED US TO A DOWNWIND POS AND ASKED US TO CALL THE FIELD. WE HAD THE FIELD IN SIGHT AND THE TFC ON TCAS; WHICH WAS WELL BEHIND US BY NOW. APCH SAID 'TFC NO FACTOR; CLRED FOR THE VISUAL APCH RWY 7; CONTACT THE TWR.' WHEN WE CONTACTED THE TWR FOR THE VISUAL APCH HE SAID; 'I KNOW YOU WERE TALKING TO ANOTHER CTLR; BUT YOU GUYS NEED TO CONTACT ME BEFORE YOU ENTER MY AIRSPACE.' I TOLD HIM WE CONTACTED HIM AS SOON AS APCH CTL HANDED US OFF TO HIM. HE THEN SAID; 'I KNOW IT PUTS YOU GUYS IN A TOUGH POS WHEN TALKING TO ANOTHER CTLR; BUT YOU STILL NEED TO CONTACT ME.' I WAS SO STUNNED I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY. I HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED THIS ON AN IFR FLT PLAN. I JUST SAID; 'HOPE WE DIDN'T CAUSE ANY TROUBLE FOR YOU TODAY.' HE REPLIED 'NO; HAVE A GOOD DAY.' THE FO AND I CONTINUE TO RESEARCH THE REGS UNDER AN IFR FLT PLAN TO SEE IF IN FACT WE DID ANYTHING WRONG. I SUSPECT HE THOUGHT WE WERE JUST VFR TFC AND APCH CTL FAILED TO TELL HIM WE WERE INBOUND. WE CONTINUE TO RESEARCH THIS FOR ANY CORRECTIVE ACTION NEEDED ON OUR PART.