Figure an AVERAGE of a 10 - 14 minute engine run time. This will depend on how much time you spend at full throttle and how much time you spend at lower throttle setting.

As for teaching yourself - Many people have taught themselves how to fly. That being said, expect your 1st flight to last about 30 seconds and expect to have to do repairs to the plane.

I realize you are pretty much of a "do it yourself" person, however, think about the money AND aggravation for a moment.

An ARF trainer costs about $100 - $150. Club dues and AMA dues typically will cost about the same as an ARF trainer (or less).

If an instructor at a club saves the plane from crashing 1 time (and trust me on this, they will save it from crashing), you have just broken even money wise. If the instructor saves the plane from crashing more than once (and they will save it multiple times ), you are money ahead that you can use for another plane, engine, etc once you know how to fly.

As for the aggrevation - some people learn a new skill very easily - almost like they were born with the knowledge and ability, while others trying to learn this same skill take longer and have to concentrate more in order to learn ithe skill. For a lot of people learning how to fly, they become discouraged because it is taking them longer to learn and many of them quit. For these people, they have just wasted their time, money and effort without learning anything.

The choice is yours.

If you do decide to teach yourself to fly, hopefully, you will be one of the people who will seem like they were born with the knowledge and ability.

I wish you the best of luck and keep us informed on how you are doing. The people here really do care.