I was getting 6 or 7 minute flights too and 8 minutes on the 8-cell. The box makes it seem like you're up there chillin' for 15 minutes. I've only seen my father n law get that kind of longevity on the 7-cell by going up, cutting the throttle and gliding around conservatively. But I always seem to fly, as gws says, with "a heavy left thumb" too.
I'm always at full throttle it seems.
Now that i got some lipo batts, I always put my watch in "stop watch" mode, at "0.00", and press the "start" button before I throttle up on a new batt. I want to take care of my batts. So I don't fly them to deadstick very often.
Could I fly for 13 or more minutes on 1 battery? Of course I could. A Lipo can do that and more. But I usually look at my watch and start thinking about landing for a pitt-stop battery change at about ten minutes or so. It's better on the battery, and for me there's no reason to fly to deadstick unless I just plan to. After two flights, i'm good anyway and might do a 3rd flight but most of the time i don't.
hey this plane is a great trainer, and beyond. I agree with you too . It's great to hear that some of you are getting that landing down. I enjoy landing this plane so much because of the way it looks coming in, and how well it handles even in wind. I saw belemnoid set his cub down in the wind like a helicopter with my own eyes one day. We flew at a mutual location in California. It was amazing how much that plane flies like the real thing.