Flight Crew Commercial; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 160; Flight Crew Total 5950; Flight Crew Type 1800
Distraction; Fatigue; Situational Awareness
Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Deviation - Track / Heading All Types; Flight Deck / Cabin / Aircraft Event Other / Unknown; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control
Human Factors; Weather
We missed the intercept to the final approach course possibly due to late arming of the autopilot. I requested a vector to re-intercept. ATC said no. He would have to box us back around. He assigned a heading and altitude. The first officer was the pilot flying in the left seat. The autopilot was disconnected. In the turn we entered an unusual attitude and were descending. It took several hundred feet to recover. As captain and pilot monitoring; I should have recognized the unusual attitude sooner. It's a busy phase of flight. I constantly monitor altitude and heading. In this incident I was not monitoring for that brief moment. The weather besides being IMC had also been quite turbulent which may have played a part. Also; [we had been on duty for 8 hours; and] the turbulence may have added to normal fatigue levels. As captain I fly with First Officers with varied levels of experience. My expectation that a turn to a heading and climb are common pilot tasks. I was caught off guard for that brief moment.
PC-12 Captain reported an altitude deviation and recovery from an usual attitude when distracted from monitoring the flying First Officer.