Crash after "Propulsion limited" message appeared

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Hi guys,
I need advice on what to do and whether it covers by Phantom warranty? I had a mysterious crash.

Product:
DJI Phantom 3 Professional, bought May 2015 at DJI online Store.
Latest firmware, v.1.8.80

What happened:
After DJI pilot app started to give information, that battery level is low (20%), I proceeded to landing. When drone was about 30-70m of altitude, battery level dropped to 12-15%, at the time when I brought drone to a straight landing trajectory. When used left stick to reduce altitude, app shown “Propulsion output is limited to save battery life” message; and drone suddenly started rotating in a spiral (propellers were working), quickly descended straight line and crashed against the asphalt surface. During descend time sticks were totally not responding, so the control was lost!! I was unable to control aircraft to land it on a softer surface. As blades were rotating, I took decision not to catch drone with bare hands.

Result: one plastic arm is damaged, motor torn away after impact with hard surface. One propeller broken. Nothing else seems to be visually damaged, but I couldn’t check if camera or drone itself is working as I did not switch on aircraft with purpose of preserving it for investigation. I’m totally frustrated as I use to fly almost every day..

Healthydrones information:
during problem, copter was switching "GPS to ATTI" modes several times a second! Is it indication of a broken firmware or something? Or is it a consequence of such a failure?

Facts:

I am drone pilot with 4 years experience;
I had around 100 successful flights with P3P without any problems during almost a year timeframe.
I have two batteries, had 3 seamless flights during the same day prior to the crash (I may have 4 flights per day at different locations), all batteries are fully charged for the next day.
New firmware update was installed just some days prior to crash.
Battery level at last takeoff: ~65% (took 35% in previous flight)
Meteo condition: clear sky, no wind.

Any advice appreciated. And yes, I searched forum and did not find exact topic with same circumstances.
 
Last edited:
...When used left stick to down the altitude, app shown “Propulsion output is limited to save battery life” message; and drone suddenly started rotating in a spiral (propellers were working), quickly descended straight line and crashed against the asphalt surface....

Battery level at last takeoff: ~65%

Looks like you're missing the word "slow" in the first sentence?

Taking off with 65% battery was your mistake, IMO.

Hope everything works out for you.
 
65% = 100% initial charge minus energy consumed from flight at previous location. Correct me if i'm wrong, but am I supposed to use 35% battery from first flight, then return home 100km, to charge battery to 100% and get back to second location which is another 100km? (just an example).

Issue is not takeoff charge but what exactly has caused the spiral of death.
 

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