PLT ON IFR FLT WITH MULTIPLE SEGMENTS AND APCH REQUESTS IS QUESTIONED BY ATC REGARDING STATUS OF FLT WHEN IN IMC CONDITIONS.

Narrative

IFR FLT PLAN ON FILE AND FLYING WAS AS FOLLOWS: SGR-IDU2 DEP V68 MARCS INTXN DIRECT HYI DIRECT BAZ DIRECT SAT DIRECT SGR. COMMENTS SECTION OF FLT PLAN: APCHS TO BE PERFORMED AT EACH ARPT. WE RECEIVED OUR CLRNC AND LAUNCHED AT APPROX XA20 AM. AFTER LEAVING SGR TWR; WE TALKED WITH HOUSTON DEP; THEN XFERRED TO ZHU; AND FINALLY TO AUSTIN APCH (AUS). WE ARRIVED AT SAN MARCOS (HYI) AND COMPLETED THE ILS RWY 13 APCH WITH A MISSED APCH. AFTER COMPLETING OUR MISSED APCH INTO HYI; WE REQUESTED TO PROCEED TO BAZ FOR A GPS RWY 13 APCH. AUS APCH VECTORED US TO BAZ; CLRED US FOR THE GPS RWY 13 APCH WITH A 140 DEG INTERCEPT ANGLE (WHICH WE FELT WAS AN UNUSUAL INTERCEPT ANGLE). AFTER BEING CLRED FOR THE APCH WE WERE TOLD TO CONTACT TWR (NO FREQ WAS GIVEN). THE TWR FREQ IS NOT PUBLISHED ON THE COMMERCIAL APCH PLATE. AT THAT TIME WE CONTACTED UNICOM TO OBTAIN THE FREQ FOR TWR. WE CONTINUED THE APCH TO MDA AND CONTACTED TWR. THIS APCH WAS CONCLUDED AS A LOW APCH AND WE RPTED THE MISSED. TWR ACKNOWLEDGED AND HANDED US OFF TO SAN ANTONIO (SAT) APCH (124.45). AT THAT TIME SAT APCH ASKED US WHAT OUR INTENTIONS WERE. WE STATED THAT WE WOULD DO THE PUBLISHED HOLD. WE REQUESTED AN EXPECT FURTHER CLRNC TIME. SAT APCH ACKNOWLEDGED AND GAVE US AN EFC OF XH00. WE THEN ENTERED THE HOLD FOR 2 LAPS. AFTER THE FIRST LAP WE MADE 2 ATTEMPTS TO CONTACT SAT APCH AFTER COMPLETING OUR FIRST LAP. SAT APCH THEN CONTACTED US AT THE EFC ASKING WHAT OUR INTENTIONS WERE. WHEN WE RPTED THAT WE WOULD LIKE TO DO AN APCH INTO SAN ANTONIO AND THEN BACK TO SGR; APCH CTL REPLIED; 'DO YOU HAVE A FLT PLAN ON FILE?' WE STATED WE WERE CURRENTLY ON AN IFR FLT PLAN. HE RESPONDED THAT WE WERE NOT ON AN IFR FLT PLAN AND TOLD US TO CONTACT FLT SVC ON 122.2 OR 122.3; AND RPT BACK TO HIM; WHICH WE DID IMMEDIATELY. EVIDENTLY WE WERE NOT ON AN IFR FLT PLAN WHILE FLYING IMC. WE RPTED OUR POS TO FLT SVC (E OF SAT VOR AT 23 NM). FLT SVC INFORMED US THAT SHE COULD NOT FILE A FLT PLAN FROM OUR PRESENT POS TO SAN ANTONIO; BUT SHE COULD AND DID FILE A FLT PLAN FOR US FROM SAN ANTONIO TO SUGAR LAND. WHEN WE RPTED BACK WITH SAT APCH THE CTLR WAS WAITING FOR OUR RETURN CALL. THE CTLR GAVE US A VECTOR AND ASKED IF WE WERE READY TO COPY OUR CLRNC FROM SAT TO SGR. WE THEN FLEW THE ILS RWY 12R APCH INTO SAT; LOW APCH; EXECUTED A MISSED AND WAS GIVEN A HDG OF 030 DEGS TO INTERCEPT 081 DEGS OFF SAT VOR AND CONTINUED BACK TO SGR. THE QUESTION IS: AT WHAT POINT DID OUR IFR FLT PLAN GET CANCELED OR DROPPED? WE EVIDENTLY BECAME VFR IN THE SYS WHILE FLYING IMC AND BELIEVING THE WHOLE TIME THAT WE WERE STILL FLYING PROTECTED UNDER IFR? AT NO TIME DID WE 'CANCEL OUR FLT PLAN;' NOR WERE WE DIRECTED TO 'MAINTAIN VFR' (WHICH OF COURSE; WE COULD NOT HAVE DONE). AFTER RECONSTRUCTING THIS FLT EXPERIENCE; WE DETERMINED WE MUST HAVE BEEN DROPPED OUT OF THE IFR SYS SOMEWHERE EITHER BEFORE OR AFTER WE CONTACTED BAZ TWR. NOW THAT WE ARE SAFELY POSITIONED ON THE GND AND WITH TIME TO REFLECT ON THIS SITUATION; WE CONCLUDE THAT WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MORE PERSISTENT IN OBTAINING AN IMMEDIATE CLRNC FROM SAT APCH ONCE WE WERE NOTIFIED WE WERE NOT ON AN IFR FLT PLAN SINCE WE WERE IMC. BEING XFERRED TO FLT SVC TO OBTAIN AN IFR FLT PLAN WHILE IMC IS NOT AN ACCEPTABLE PROC. IT IS STILL A MYSTERY WHAT HAPPENED TO THE IFR FLT PLAN WE THOUGHT WE WERE ON WHILE FLYING THIS ROUND ROBIN TRIP. THE PROB MAY HAVE BEEN SOMEWHERE IN TRANSITIONING FROM BEING CLRED BY AUS APCH FOR THE APCH INTO BAZ AND THEN EXECUTING AND RPTING THE MISSED APCH WITH SAT APCH. SOMEWHERE THERE WAS A FAILURE TO XFER INFO WITHIN THE SYS. BELIEVING WE WERE ON AN IFR FLT PLAN IN IMC AND NOT ACTUALLY BEING ON AN IFR FLT PLAN; IS AN UNSAFE AND UNACCEPTABLE SITUATION.