Scary. It nearly happened to me once, flying a Jodel with a u/s AI, going to a business meeting with the added pressure of a pushy passenger on board ("we must get to that meeting on time...").
The really scary thing is the insidiousness of it as the situation creeps up on you. You just don't know it until it's too late.
I was skirting some clag, in sight of the ground but with limited forward viz, not realising just how limited forward it was.
I was also (fatal mistake) relying on an ATC report of VMC conditions in the area & an insistence by them that I report at a particular VRP(I know much better now).
In my scenario, knowing that I couldnt trust my head to tell me which way up I was, I immediately chopped the throttle and let go of everything. A most horrible feeling of utter helplessness, everything screaming at me to handle the controls.
Good old bird that she was, the Jodel didnt pick up too much speed and thank god we popped out of the clag in a level glide after what seemed an age but was probably less than 20 seconds. Had it been longer of course, even with no control inputs the aircraft would probably have started a diving turn of its own accord.
I count myself exceedingly lucky & certainly learned about flying from that. I do NOT recommend anything I did as a way out of such a situation - it was more luck than anything that I'm still around.
The business meeting? I diverted and cancelled it. Passenger didnt like it but tough - I just wanted to go home.
Oh yeah - forgot to mention also. I was IMC rated at the time. But when you look at the haphazard panel of a Jodel, especially with an AI spinning round and round, it's a completely different ball game to a nice, relatively ergonomic PA28. Limited panel just went out of my head at that horrible moment.
[ 05 November 2001: Message edited by: poetpilot ]