Sudden inversion and acceleration to the ground - why??

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Dec 18, 2016
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Took off my DJI P3 standard with 47% battery power and controller at 21%. After a second in the air, I noticed a cold weather warning saying the batter was below 59 degrees (temp was about 45 degrees). I went to press record, and it inverted, and accelerated toward the ground a full power.

It was terrifying and almost hit a friend. The gimbal broke, but not horrible damage overall.

I'm really worried about the safety of owning this -- any idea what happened?
 
I doubt it accelerated to the ground. It probably went into death mode (i.e. it started to stop) and fell.

It's very important that your pre-warm you battery before launching in cold air. And yes, 45 degrees F is brutally cold to your phantom battery.

Good luck with recovery! And Welcome to the Site!
 
When flying in cold weather you never want to fly without fully charged batteries because the temperature affects the flight time.


Sent from my iPhone using PhantomPilots
 
Many users recommend that your battery always be at 100% power before flights. DJI does not recommend sub freezing temperature flights but people do it all the time. I have flown sub-zero flights where cold fingers was the biggest issue.

Phantom 3 Standard manual - LINK HERE

Here is the section of the manual that deals with this...
Screen Shot 2016-12-18 at 8.38.34 PM✨.png
 
You pressed the record button rather than conducting a priority landing. Try and warm your battery before launch and leave the AC idling for a few minutes before launching. When you see that warning it means that what happened is possible and more probable when launching with a battery less than fully charged (47% was really pushing your luck in these circumcmstances).
 
I flew in -15 Celsius today no issues at all.... a fully charged battery is a must and watch your voltage...if it hits 3.4 get it out of the air asap. And make sure your battery is warm at takeoff


Sent from my iPad using PhantomPilots
 
You pressed the record button rather than conducting a priority landing. Try and warm your battery before launch and leave the AC idling for a few minutes before launching. When you see that warning it means that what happened is possible and more probable when launching with a battery less than fully charged (47% was really pushing your luck in these circumcmstances).

No, I pressed the record button and then it crashed.
 
I doubt it accelerated to the ground. It probably went into death mode (i.e. it started to stop) and fell.

It's very important that your pre-warm you battery before launching in cold air. And yes, 45 degrees F is brutally cold to your phantom battery.

Good luck with recovery! And Welcome to the Site!
It flipped over and then had rotors on full power, so it accelerated towards the ground.
 
No, I pressed the record button and then it crashed.
Yes, what I suggested is you should have landed as soon as you got the warning, especially given you were flying a half depleted pack. Continuing to fly (as was almost certainly your intent given you pressed record) was a bad idea. Landing straight away would have been the best option.
 

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