A piaggio P180 took an apparent lightning strike on a propeller while IMC at FL360 and subsequently ...

Narrative:

At FL360 and rerouting toward a gap in a line of radar returns. Several aircraft had used the gap with success. Before I got near the gap I entered in IMC conditions and experienced light to moderate chop. Suddenly my EFIS displays (two) and the multifunction display went blank. Attitude and dg information were displayed on these tubes. The multifunction display can be used after channeling information with a toggle switch. However; it was dead also. I felt the circuit breakers for a popped one but couldn't find one out. I also reset both inverters to try to bring them back on line. Then I noticed my altimeter was descending. I transitioned to a tiny peanut gyro standby display for attitude information. By then my attitude was in a steep descending turn probably from the turbulence initiating the unusual attitude while I was troubleshooting. I throttled back and gently tried to regain a safe descent rate and attitude. The standby gyro was difficult to use because of its size and location. ATC inquired about the descent and I told them I lost my displays and needed to land. They asked if I wanted to go to the nearest airport. I picked ZZZ as it was the most appropriate. I entered VFR conditions and landed without incident at ZZZ. I left it there to have a mechanic look it over first. I had one passenger and he was ok. If I were to do this over again I would have skipped the troubleshooting and gone straight to the standby gyro. If there were two pilots; then the second pilot could have troubleshot the problem while the first was concentrating on attitude of the plane.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A Piaggio P180 took an apparent lightning strike on a propeller while IMC at FL360 and subsequently all EFIS data was lost. While troubleshooting; the aircraft entered a descending turn which the pilot arrested using his Standby Gyro; then diverted to a nearby airport.

Narrative: At FL360 and rerouting toward a gap in a line of radar returns. Several aircraft had used the gap with success. Before I got near the gap I entered in IMC conditions and experienced light to moderate chop. Suddenly my EFIS displays (two) and the Multifunction Display went blank. Attitude and DG information were displayed on these tubes. The Multifunction Display can be used after channeling information with a toggle switch. However; it was dead also. I felt the circuit breakers for a popped one but couldn't find one out. I also reset both inverters to try to bring them back on line. Then I noticed my altimeter was descending. I transitioned to a tiny peanut gyro standby display for attitude information. By then my attitude was in a steep descending turn probably from the turbulence initiating the unusual attitude while I was troubleshooting. I throttled back and gently tried to regain a safe descent rate and attitude. The standby gyro was difficult to use because of its size and location. ATC inquired about the descent and I told them I lost my displays and needed to land. They asked if I wanted to go to the nearest airport. I picked ZZZ as it was the most appropriate. I entered VFR conditions and landed without incident at ZZZ. I left it there to have a Mechanic look it over first. I had one passenger and he was OK. If I were to do this over again I would have skipped the troubleshooting and gone straight to the standby gyro. If there were two pilots; then the second pilot could have troubleshot the problem while the first was concentrating on attitude of the plane.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 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.

Attributes
ACN	1088872
Time
Date	201305
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.ARTCC
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	P180 Avanti
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	Vectors
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Flight Dynamics Navigation and Safety
Person 1
Function	Captain Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 90 Flight Crew Total 13300 Flight Crew Type 390
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Altitude Excursion From Assigned Altitude Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

A piaggio P180 took an apparent lightning strike on a propeller while IMC at FL360 and subsequently all EFIS data was lost. While troubleshooting; the aircraft entered a descending turn which the pilot arrested using his standby gyro; then diverted to a nearby airport.