Cessna 402C pilot reported losing his attitude indicator shortly after takeoff in IMC.

Attributes
ACN	1299549
Time
Date	201509
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Flight Conditions	IMC
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Cessna 402/402C/B379 Businessliner/Utiliner
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 135
Flight Phase	Climb
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Attitude Indicator(Gyro/Horizon/ADI)
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical Deviation - Procedural Clearance Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence

Narrative:

Flight in IFR conditions; low ceilings (500 feet) /good visibility (6+miles) underneath.received clearance for departure from approach to fly 210 climb 2;000. All instruments normal at completion of before takeoff checklist. Departed runway; instruments normal on takeoff roll. On climb out; gear retracted; vy maintained. Initiated turn from runway heading to assigned 210; in turn attitude indicator failed and 'turned upside down.' suction gauge pegged to 7/8 o'clock position with 1 red nipple showing. Exercised my PIC authority; discontinued climb and descended (was over the ocean at this point) to visual conditions and returned to land without incidence. I was not in radar contact or communication with ATC.not my area of expertise but would offer is there a maintenance check/procedure to better predict a failure occurring.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Cessna 402C pilot reported losing his attitude indicator shortly after takeoff in IMC.

Narrative: Flight in IFR conditions; low ceilings (500 feet) /good visibility (6+miles) underneath.Received clearance for departure from Approach to fly 210 climb 2;000. All instruments normal at completion of before takeoff checklist. Departed runway; instruments normal on takeoff roll. On climb out; gear retracted; Vy maintained. Initiated turn from runway heading to assigned 210; in turn attitude indicator failed and 'turned upside down.' Suction gauge pegged to 7/8 o'clock position with 1 red nipple showing. Exercised my PIC authority; discontinued climb and descended (was over the ocean at this point) to visual conditions and returned to land without incidence. I was not in radar contact or communication with ATC.Not my area of expertise but would offer is there a maintenance check/procedure to better predict a failure occurring.

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.