I'm running into consistent thermal calibration issues during longer roof inspections with my Mavic 3 Thermal. After about 20-25 minutes of flight time, I'm seeing noticeable temperature drift - hot spots showing up to 3-4?C cooler than they should be compared to initial readings.

Details: Flying mostly commercial flat roofs, 15-20m AGL, emissivity set to 0.95 for membrane roofing. Weather conditions are typically <12mph wind, low humidity. I'm following best practices with evening flights after solar loading.

Anyone else experiencing this? Is it sensor heating, or am I missing something in my calibration routine? Should I be doing mid-flight recalibration on extended surveys?

This is a known issue with thermal sensors under continuous operation. The M3T sensor heats up after 20+ minutes, causing baseline drift. I do manual recalibration every 15 minutes on extended missions - just point at a known reference temp and reset. Also try reducing your flight speed to under 8mph to minimize thermal blur.

I had the exact same problem until I started using shorter flight segments with battery swaps. Now I plan missions in 15-minute blocks with 2-3 minute ground breaks between batteries. The thermal sensor needs that cool-down time to maintain accuracy.

Check your firmware version - DJI released an update in late 2025 that improved thermal stability for extended missions. Also make sure you're not flying in direct sunlight on the drone body, as housing temperature affects sensor calibration more than people realize.