A PA-46 pilot lost first his nav display and next control of the aircraft as he climbed out in IMC o...

Attributes
ACN	1190798
Time
Date	201407
Place
Locale Reference	BAK.Airport
State Reference	IN
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	PA-46 Malibu Meridian
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Cruise
Route In Use	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 14 Flight Crew Total 1198 Flight Crew Type 160
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Inflight Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

Upon takeoff and turning north on a 360 vector from tower I entered clouds at 1;000 MSL when my navigation display (meggitt) failed [as I was] climbing to 4;000 feet and was handed over to center. I lost control of the airplane while in the clouds. I regrouped; gained control of the airplane and asked to climb up on top to 10;000 feet. ATC asked my intentions and I asked for an airport with better visibility while I evaluated my aircraft. He advised an airport a nearby had 4;000 feet and 10SM visibility. I was cleared to there and was stepped down while maintaining VFR. Upon clearing the clouds; I canceled my IFR flight plan; thanked center for their help and landed VFR. I believe the cause of this incident was my failure to properly scan and my fixation with a failed instrument. Getting the instrument repaired/replaced will eliminate the instrument failure; keeping myself from fixating on the broken instrument and continuing my scan would have prevented this incident.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A PA-46 pilot lost first his Nav display and next control of the aircraft as he climbed out in IMC on an IFR flight plan. After regaining control he requested a clearance to on top; weather advisories for area airports and vectors to a nearby VMC field where he landed safely.

Narrative: Upon takeoff and turning North on a 360 vector from Tower I entered clouds at 1;000 MSL when my navigation display (Meggitt) failed [as I was] climbing to 4;000 feet and was handed over to Center. I lost control of the airplane while in the clouds. I regrouped; gained control of the airplane and asked to climb up on top to 10;000 feet. ATC asked my intentions and I asked for an airport with better visibility while I evaluated my aircraft. He advised an airport a nearby had 4;000 feet and 10SM visibility. I was cleared to there and was stepped down while maintaining VFR. Upon clearing the clouds; I canceled my IFR flight plan; thanked Center for their help and landed VFR. I believe the cause of this incident was my failure to properly scan and my fixation with a failed instrument. Getting the instrument repaired/replaced will eliminate the instrument failure; keeping myself from fixating on the broken instrument and continuing my scan would have prevented this incident.

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.

A PA-46 pilot lost first his nav display and next control of the aircraft as he climbed out in IMC on an IFR flight plan. After regaining control he requested a clearance to on top; weather advisories for area airports and vectors to a nearby VMC field where he landed safely.