Narrative:

I was enroute when the attitude indicator started showing a false reading 10-15 degrees to the left. I informed center of the issue; at that point we were [given] a block altitude 7000-9000 to stay out of the clouds. With the ai out the auto pilot would not hold the wings level. Along the route we were checking the airports to see who had the best conditions to land; all the airports enroute were low ceiling with poor visibility; [destination] was the best choice at ceiling 1700 feet; plus this is my home base and I am very familiar with this airport. When we were passed to approach I told them we had an issue and they said they were aware of the problem; and asked if the dg was working; I replied yes. We tried shooting the ILS once with no luck; I was able to keep the wings level but could not stay on the ILS path. For the second approach they vectored me out farther north to try and set up a stable approach for ILS; during the approach I lost control of the plane and struggled to keep it wings level; losing altitude and gaining altitude; wings pitched over and in general just struggling to keep the plane upright. ATC called for me to go missed and climb to 5000; but I was fighting to control the plane and did not respond back immediately. I only regained control of the plane once I broke out of IMC at or around 2500 msl; at that time I called tower and told them I was wings level; and had the plane under control and was now VFR with the field in sight; this took maybe 40 seconds from the time ATC called. At that point tower asked if I wanted to cancel IFR; I told them whatever works for them; they replied I had to cancel IFR in order to continue VFR; I cancelled; continued in to land VFR. I'm not sure if I handled the issue the best; but I am here to fill this out and not in a coffin. I do know that once the plane is fixed I will be working on partial panel flying with my instructor.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Piper Lance pilot reported difficulty controlling the aircraft in IFR conditions after the loss of the attitude indicator.

Narrative: I was enroute when the attitude indicator started showing a false reading 10-15 degrees to the left. I informed Center of the issue; at that point we were [given] a block altitude 7000-9000 to stay out of the clouds. With the AI out the auto pilot would not hold the wings level. Along the route we were checking the airports to see who had the best conditions to land; all the airports enroute were low ceiling with poor visibility; [destination] was the best choice at ceiling 1700 feet; plus this is my home base and I am very familiar with this airport. When we were passed to Approach I told them we had an issue and they said they were aware of the problem; and asked if the DG was working; I replied yes. We tried shooting the ILS once with no luck; I was able to keep the wings level but could not stay on the ILS path. For the second approach they vectored me out farther north to try and set up a stable approach for ILS; during the approach I lost control of the plane and struggled to keep it wings level; losing altitude and gaining altitude; wings pitched over and in general just struggling to keep the plane upright. ATC called for me to go missed and climb to 5000; but I was fighting to control the plane and did not respond back immediately. I only regained control of the plane once I broke out of IMC at or around 2500 msl; at that time I called tower and told them I was wings level; and had the plane under control and was now VFR with the field in sight; this took maybe 40 seconds from the time ATC called. At that point Tower asked if I wanted to cancel IFR; I told them whatever works for them; they replied I had to cancel IFR in order to continue VFR; I cancelled; continued in to land VFR. I'm not sure if I handled the issue the best; but I am here to fill this out and not in a coffin. I do know that once the plane is fixed I will be working on partial panel flying with my instructor.

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.