I Have,
an electric, panel AI in P2 position.
A Dynon D2, digital self contained AI.
And Flightstream AHARS to a Garmin APP.
With all that I should be ok, but Pilot skill under pressure is another thing.
Microlight pilots and others without instruments have established methods of going up and down through cloud layers. Usually involves trimming into a stable climbing or descending turn whilst in VMC.
That works with a microlight, but with something slippery and neutrally stable in roll like a Bonanza, you’re going to need to make at least some control input to keep it on an even keel (especially if there’s any turbulence) although dropping the gear does help.
I don’t think the phone apps would be any good. They don’t have a background erection process, although it is not clear why such a feature has apparently never been implemented. Previous thread here.
Various related threads e.g. this one.
Basically, you have to do this properly, with a proper instrument which senses the gravity vector somehow – the “pendulous vanes” which are one of the favourite topics in IR exam theory are one old solution.
My reading of the crash report in this case is that he had no other attitude or roll indicating instrument, which is really dumb. You can keep wings level, in relatively still air, using a DI to hold a heading. It will work unless there is a substantial disturbance and then you will lose the plane. It can even be done with just a compass, just about.
Peter: “Any port in a storm”
It was because the threads you mention above are now quite old – and these things are developing at a rapid pace – that I posted the link to A-EFIS.
You wrote:
They don’t have a background erection process,
I am also very sceptical of the handheld, tablet/phone apps that relies on the internal sensors only. They have no real gyros, solid state or otherwise, and their presentation of attitude must be based on GPS and accelerometers only.
What I have been considering instead, for the IMC flights I do in aeroplanes without proper backup attitude as per Timothy’s list above, is something like this.
It would certainly give some peace of mind when flying as an instructor in some-one else’s basically equipped airplane, in IMC.
these things are developing at a rapid pace
From this statement
One-step, automatic leveling which can be performed easily after mounting the phone or tablet on the cockpit.
I don’t think it does it differently. A proper solution would not need levelling, other than an adjustment for taildraggers whose ground pitch is usually quite a lot. One pilot I saw had a G500 installed in his WW2 Mustang, and there was an issue with this because the Mustang’s ground pitch attitude exceeded the G500’s adjustment range.
Assume you have “an avionics blackout”, I wonder if: power off, crossing controls, trimming for something like 1.3*VSO and center the yoke will help you to avoid the spiral dive jackpot in IMC?
You may hit the spin jackpot if you pulled to much on the yoke but at least you will not rip the wings off with a spiral dive before hitting the ground…
Of course, probably type dependent but something worth a try in VMC to “know your aircraft”? there should be a setting of the stick/trim ( = critical speed value or band) where on crossed controls and power off where the aircraft does not neither spiral dive neither drop a wing, if not you are doomed, especially on max power 
I tried something similar on few gliders, the result does vary and can be different from aeroplanes (gliders have more tendency to spiral dive and get excess of speed than stall/spin, but they have air-breaks !!)
Excellent report, especially the tDODAR aspects which the pilot did not carry out. He had time and could have climbed, set 45% economy cruise, and proceeded in VMC to a VMC area, even if only with 30 minutes reserve. So action one when limited panel is stay VMC and proceed to a VMC area.
A functioning Turn and Bank is not useless, most Mil-Spec (before glass) would choose a T/B over a Turn Coordinator – in part because it is reliable in a spin, while a Turn Coordinator isn’t. This would be for slippier, more neutral stability aircraft than a Bonanza with a fair bit of dihedral.
In the USA they require the ability to recover from unusual attitudes on a limited panel, and to fly a non precision approach. The general handling limited panel is also more extensive, including slow flying, turning, climbing and descending in slow flight. However using the instrument currency rules, in theory the pilot may not have had to demonstrate limited panel in years.
UK IR examiners are devoting more time to the General Handling portion of the IRT, but all school aircraft these days have a standby attitude indicator.
The pilot mentions he is partial panel, which is a pitot static failure, but quite a common confusion. The airlines spend time on unreliable airspeed drills, but not the typical IR course.
Hard wiring the straight and level limited panel scan for your set up is key. Most can carry out the recovery actions from an unusual attitude, but struggle to sustain a systematic straight and level scan. Invariably going from a recovery to a second unusual attitude.
RobertL18C wrote:
in part because it is reliable in a spin, while a Turn Coordinator isn’t.
Actually a T/C is reliable in a spin, but not in an inverted spin.
