Talk about limited panel...
There was a case in 2014 where a loose formation of two Giles G-202 aerobatic aircraft encountered IMC. One pilot decided to take a different route home when the other pilot lost sight of him.
The surviving one of the two had no alternative but attempt a climb up through solid cloud using only his ASI, compass and slip ball! See photo of his panel below! He also had no idea that he would need to climb through 9000 feet of cloud before breaking out on top!!
His mate's radio went silent a short time later.
Excerpt below (re the surviving pilot) from the accident report:
http://www.caa.co.za/Accidents%20and%20Incidents%20Reports/9281.pdf"After a few minutes, he got trapped in a large valley with low clouds and power lines on the ridge he intended to cross. He then decided to do a level 360° turn in order to decide his next course of action as dark clouds ahead were lowering quickly. At that stage the pilot could not see any level ground below where he could try to do a precautionary landing. The rain also came down so heavily that he could not see ahead of him, apart from about 45° left and right of the nose.
At this stage, the pilot realised that his only alternative was to
level the wings and pull up into a climb-straight-ahead and hope to break out on top of these clouds quickly. The pilot further stated that he was fully aware of the
dangers of spatial disorientation in flying in instrument metrological conditions (IMC) on a very limited panel in an aerobatic aircraft with a high roll and pitch rate. He further stated that he applied his full concentration to ensure the ball in the slip gauge was centred, that he kept the compass steady, and maintained a steady climb speed of 80 miles an hour."