Turning on the autopilot, if available, would help a bit too.

Yes, if the A/P was not on already whilst in the soup.

 

However, a small caveat: It is very important that you know HOW things work.

 

In my old Skymaster, the A/P was stabilized by the vacuum attitude indicator - If you lost vacuum or the attitude gyro, you also lost the autopilot.  Well, not really lost as the A/P would adopt whatever attitude the attitude indicator would take.  That is why I had an additional AI (electric) installed.

 

In my wee Lancair, the S-Tec A/P is stabilized by the electric gyro in the turn coordinator and the accelerometer in the computer, independent of the vacuum AI gyro.  If I lost the attitude indicator, the autopilot would certainly help keep the wings level.

 

In systems such as the Chelton, Avidyne, et al, is there only 1 AHRS that is shared by the attitude displays and the autopilot? If so, one could not use the A/P as a backup.

 

Of course, an independent A/P, like the Tru-Trak, uses its own internal electronic gyros for stabilization.