Got my Part 107.29 night waiver approved. First nighttime thermal inspection job is next week - a solar panel array.
Anyone doing regular night ops? Looking for practical advice:
Flying the M3T with the thermal camera.
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Sign inScout the site during daylight hours. Know every obstacle, wire, and structure. At night, your depth perception is terrible even with anti-collision lights.
For solar panel thermal, fly right before sunrise for best results. The panels have cooled overnight and hot spots from defective cells show up clearly.
Use the strobe plus steady illumination for anti-collision. Strobe only is disorienting.
Bring a spotter with a radio. Seriously. It's not required for every scenario but it's cheap insurance.
For thermal settings: manual temperature range, not auto. Set your range based on expected panel temperature. Auto will constantly adjust and make comparison between panels difficult.