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When his attitude indicator and altimeter became unreliable while in IMC; a C172 pilot suffered vertigo; gaining and losing altitude and deviating from his course. He eventually became VFR on top and continued to his destination.
| Attributes | |
| ACN | 978471 |
| Time | |
| Date | 201111 |
| Local Time Of Day | 0601-1200 |
| Place | |
| Locale Reference | ZZZ.ARTCC |
| State Reference | US |
| Environment | |
| Flight Conditions | IMC |
| Light | Dawn |
| Aircraft 1 | |
| Make Model Name | Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172 |
| Operating Under FAR Part | Part 91 |
| Flight Phase | Initial Climb |
| Route In Use | Direct Vectors |
| Flight Plan | IFR |
| Component | |
| Aircraft Component | Attitude Indicator(Gyro/Horizon/ADI) |
| Person 1 | |
| Function | Pilot Flying Single Pilot |
| Qualification | Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private |
| Experience | Flight Crew Last 90 Days 42 Flight Crew Total 191 Flight Crew Type 191 |
| Events | |
| Anomaly | Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Track / Heading All Types Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control |
| Miss Distance | Horizontal 0 Vertical 1000 |
Narrative:
While climbing to my cleared altitude; I lost functionality of my attitude indicator. As it began to turn; indicating I was in a right turn I attempted to correct for the turn and discovered it was unreliable. In an attempt to regain proper attitude of the aircraft I began a spiraling rapid climb which was followed by a rapid steep descent. I began to correct for the loss in attitude by reducing power to idle and using my turn coordinator and heading indicator to level the wings. I regained control of the aircraft after losing 1000 feet of altitude. After regaining positive control of the aircraft I advised ATC that I had lost attitude control due to malfunctioning attitude indicator and requested to climb to find VMC in order to diagnose the functionality of my gauges. I was cleared to find VFR over the top but later discovered that I had a malfunctioning altimeter. By that time I was in clear VMC and did not want to descend back into IMC to abort the flight and return to ZZZ. I later canceled IFR and continued the flight VFR to ZZZ2 to have the aircraft inspected for full functionality.
Original NASA ASRS Text
Title: When his attitude indicator and altimeter became unreliable while in IMC; a C172 pilot suffered vertigo; gaining and losing altitude and deviating from his course. He eventually became VFR on top and continued to his destination.
Narrative: While climbing to my cleared Altitude; I Lost functionality of my Attitude indicator. As it began to turn; indicating I was in a Right turn I attempted to correct for the turn and discovered it was unreliable. In an attempt to regain proper attitude of the aircraft I began a spiraling rapid climb which was followed by a rapid steep descent. I began to correct for the loss in attitude by reducing power to idle and using my turn coordinator and heading indicator to level the wings. I regained control of the aircraft after losing 1000 feet of Altitude. After regaining positive control of the aircraft I advised ATC that I had lost attitude control due to malfunctioning Attitude Indicator and requested to climb to find VMC in order to diagnose the functionality of my gauges. I was cleared to find VFR over the Top but later discovered that I had a Malfunctioning Altimeter. By that time I was in clear VMC and did not want to descend back into IMC to abort the flight and return to ZZZ. I later canceled IFR and continued the flight VFR to ZZZ2 to have the aircraft inspected for full functionality.
Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.