Expect the first handful (or even a month) of just skidding around on the ground. Your early "flights" will consist of making the helicopter light, just so that you can get used to throttle and yaw and pitch controls. Because of this, try to fly on solid ground if you can, such as your driveway or the street in front of your house. When it's near the ground like this, it'll have a tendency to drift left because of the force of the tail rotor. Also, once you do get it off the ground, you'll be experiencing some instability because of the turbulence the helicopter is creating for itself; this will much less of a factor at 2 or 3 feet and up. Following [link=http://www.dream-models.com/eco/flying-index.html]Radd's School of Rotary Flight[/link] will get you into a stable hover in no time.

As for batteries, I bought [link=http://cgi.ebay.com/ESKY-LIPO-BALANCE-CHARGER-AND-11-1V-LIPO-BATTERY_W0QQitemZ270152611587QQihZ017QQcategoryZ25 63QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem]this package[/link] off eBay and it's been great (and the price is hard to beat). I'm still learning nose-in hover and they're great for my skill level. Expect around 8 to 10 minutes of solid flight on a full charge. Note that if you do decide on the eSky batteries, you'll need to also buy something like [link=http://www.hobbypeople.net/gallery/625072.asp]this[/link], since they have a JST connector and not a micro Deans connector that the Axe requires. However, if you expect to stay with the hobby, you may want to make an early full-time investment and purchase Thunder Power LiPos, which cost a bit more.