A beach bonanza pilot reported that he lost situational awareness when he entered a cloud.

Attributes
ACN	1491190
Time
Date	201710
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	Mixed
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Bonanza 35
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Person 1
Function	Pilot Flying Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 15 Flight Crew Total 775 Flight Crew Type 200
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Clearance Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

ATC issued vectors; fly-heading 320. I lost situational awareness when entering a cloud; momentarily lost directional control and inadvertently turned westbound. I was correcting as ATC queried my direction; headed back to 320 heading. ATC issued modification to clearance: vectors to an intersection; [then] direct. I lost situational awareness and proceeded direct to [the intersection] until ATC queried my direction. I then corrected and flew [assigned] vectors.cause: when I entered the cloud; I failed to go to the artificial horizon immediately and quickly began unintended turn. I became alarmed and further distracted; so I missed the instruction to follow vectors to [the intersection] and proceeded direct instead. This was poor instrument technique on my part followed by failure to get my emotions under control quickly in order to continue navigating correctly.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Beach Bonanza pilot reported that he lost situational awareness when he entered a cloud.

Narrative: ATC issued vectors; fly-heading 320. I lost situational awareness when entering a cloud; momentarily lost directional control and inadvertently turned westbound. I was correcting as ATC queried my direction; headed back to 320 heading. ATC issued modification to clearance: vectors to an intersection; [then] direct. I lost situational awareness and proceeded direct to [the intersection] until ATC queried my direction. I then corrected and flew [assigned] vectors.Cause: When I entered the cloud; I failed to go to the artificial horizon immediately and quickly began unintended turn. I became alarmed and further distracted; so I missed the instruction to follow vectors to [the intersection] and proceeded direct instead. This was poor instrument technique on my part followed by failure to get my emotions under control quickly in order to continue navigating correctly.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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.