First Time in IMC and vacuum problem

I too had my first experience in IMC yesterday. I got my ticket last
summer too and have kept current but haven't had a chance to go solo. I
was going to go from Indianapolis Executive (TYQ) to Capitol City in
Lansing Michigan (LAN). The weather was 1000 OVR until 50 miles north of
TYQ and then it was clear all the way to LAN. THis was going to be a
quick trip because the weather in Indiana was forecast to get worse as
the day wore on.

I was a little bit apprehensive because I have a respect to IMC but I
thought it would be good practice too. I got set up, picked up my
clearance and was off. Just as forecast I entered the clag at 1000 feet.
Right away I spotted something wrong with the attitude indicator. It was
looking like I was in a steep climbing turn. Oh **** I thought great
time for the AI to go out. I had a weird feeling of ending up as an
Aftermath column. I must say that I was pretty scared but strange
enough not panicked. I reduced power, used the Turn Coordinator to level
the wings, used the Airspeed Indicator to level off altitude. I called
ATC and told them that I was having a problem with the AI and needed
their assistance. They asked if I wanted vectors back to TQY to shoot
the ILS 36 there. I said yes. I started back to the field and the AI
started to act like I expected it should. After a few minutes I was
still in the clag but all instruments were working correctly. I thought
about just continuing on back to Lansing but I quickly talked myself out
of it.

Really after I "calmed" down and the AI started acting correctly I
didn't have any problems navigating in the clouds. I shot the ILS 36 and
broke out 1000 feet above the runway, canceled my IFR flight plan and
made an uneventful landing. ATC wanted to know if I wanted to refill my
flight plan and I said no thanks. I was glad to be on the ground. I was
thinking about what just transpired and decided to talk it over with my
CFI.

We determined that what probably happened was that the extended period
of idling on the ground caused the AI gyro to spool down some. It took
several minutes at cruise power for it to come back up to speed and
after that it indicated correctly.

Here is what I'll do different next time:

1. Make sure that I have had the vacuum indicator "in the green" for
several minutes before departing to ensure that the gyros are spooled up.

2. Have the approach for returning to the airport loaded or in standby
just in case you need to return quickly. I did not do this and it added
needless stress loading everything.

It is true what they say:
"It is better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air, then
being in the air wishing you were on the ground"

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
Student Mooney Owner