Regarding in flight use of battery and consumption, there is something that not a single person has in common with another and that's flying style.

When I was learning to fly, my instructor watched me for a few minutes while I was flying on the "box". It was at a time when he was confident enough in my flying abilities that he could watch me instead of the plane. He noted that I was using a lot of input to the sticks to make minor corrections as the plane was flying.

He told me to make a turn and fly straight and level, which I did. Then he told me to let go of the sticks.. both of them.. so I did. The plane did the same thing on it's own as it was while I was trying to correct for with the sticks.

My point is that the plane, once trimmed up correctly, will pretty much fly by itself. Making minor corrections does one thing... it consumes battery power. So, some do it some don't. I would be willing to bet that those that are having less flight duration out of a battery pack are doing as I was doing.. overcorrecting.. or trying to correct every movement the plane makes, which is totally unecessary.

Learning some control over the aircraft does not necessarily mean correcting every movement (or trying to correct) it makes. There are to many environmental factors here to try to correct for.

The bottom line is fly the plane, but don't try to correct for every movement it makes. Your batteries will last longer and you will find that you are more relaxed during the flight. The down side of this, and this is by no means a down side... is that you may.. just may.. get more enjoyable flights in that day on that charged pack!!

CGr.