Narrative:

I had reached cruising altitude at 7;000 feet and was IMC. No issues prior to that point. Autopilot was engaged and about 10 minutes into the cruise; the aircraft began a gradual lean to the left 20-30 degrees. I reached down to adjust the aileron trim when I caught a flash from the panel. I was not looking directly at the G600 but suspect the flash came from there. As I looked at the G600 to identify the flash; the aircraft began an un-commanded turn to the right. Garmin 530 showed 70 degrees +/- off course. This all happened in a space of less than 30 seconds. At this point; I disengage the autopilot and requested an immediate descent from approach to get to VMC. I informed the controller I had lost my glass panel and needed VFR conditions. Controller directed me to descend to 4;700 feet and gave me directions to [an alternate airport]. I broke out at around 5;000 feet and felt the airplane was safe in VMC; so I declined [the diversion and] wanted to head direct to [the destination airport]. Controller passed me onto center and let me know she had informed them that my glass panel had failed. As I got closer to [the destination airport]; the ceilings started to come down and I had to continue to descend to maintain VFR. Eventually I was stuck around 1;000 feet AGL to maintain VFR as I entered [the] airspace. I was given a normal approach to runway 21 and then offered runway 25 which I declined. I landed uneventfully.during the flight back I did some troubleshooting and no circuit breakers were popped; I did not detect any smell of smoke; the GPS/heading was in GPS mode; and I was correctly programmed. I had tested the autopilot and trim using the normal published procedure. Prior to the event; no deficiencies with either the trim or autopilot systems were observed.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Cessna 208 pilot reported loosing the 'Glass Panel' during cruise flight and immediately requested VFR conditions from ATC.

Narrative: I had reached cruising altitude at 7;000 feet and was IMC. No issues prior to that point. Autopilot was engaged and about 10 minutes into the cruise; the aircraft began a gradual lean to the left 20-30 degrees. I reached down to adjust the aileron trim when I caught a flash from the panel. I was not looking directly at the G600 but suspect the flash came from there. As I looked at the G600 to identify the flash; the aircraft began an un-commanded turn to the right. Garmin 530 showed 70 degrees +/- off course. This all happened in a space of less than 30 seconds. At this point; I disengage the autopilot and requested an immediate descent from Approach to get to VMC. I informed the controller I had lost my glass panel and needed VFR conditions. Controller directed me to descend to 4;700 feet and gave me directions to [an alternate airport]. I broke out at around 5;000 feet and felt the airplane was safe in VMC; so I declined [the diversion and] wanted to head direct to [the destination airport]. Controller passed me onto Center and let me know she had informed them that my glass panel had failed. As I got closer to [the destination airport]; the ceilings started to come down and I had to continue to descend to maintain VFR. Eventually I was stuck around 1;000 feet AGL to maintain VFR as I entered [the] airspace. I was given a normal approach to Runway 21 and then offered Runway 25 which I declined. I landed uneventfully.During the flight back I did some troubleshooting and no circuit breakers were popped; I did not detect any smell of smoke; the GPS/Heading was in GPS mode; and I was correctly programmed. I had tested the autopilot and trim using the normal published procedure. Prior to the event; no deficiencies with either the trim or autopilot systems were observed.

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.