Drone Flight Time Calculator

Pick your craft — tiny whoop through cinelifter — set your battery, weight, and how hard you fly, and get your estimated airtime plus the numbers behind it: power draw, average and peak current, and the C-rating your pack actually needs. It even tells you when your battery is lifting itself.

FLIGHT TIME LAB

Battery & Endurance Estimator

Craft Type

Tiny Whoop65mm ducted
3″ Microsub-250 fpv
5″ Freestylethe standard
5″ Racingfull send
7″ Long-Rangecruiser
Cineliftergopro hauler
Camera Dronegps + gimbal

Battery

1S
2S
3S
4S
6S
8S
12S
Capacity1300 mAh
LiPohigh C, punchy
Li-Iondense, low C

All-Up Weight (with battery + camera)

AUW650 g
Picking a craft type sets a typical AUW — then fine-tune to your actual build. Weigh it with everything strapped on.

Flying Style

Cruise / Filmsmooth lines
Mixednormal session
Full Sendracing / freestyle
010 203040+ MINUTES
Est. Flight Time
Pack Energy
Avg Power Draw
Avg Current
Min C-Rating
Battery % of AUW

Pack Verdict

Estimates use typical hover-efficiency figures per craft class (watts per gram) with a usable-capacity floor of 80% for LiPo (land at ~3.5V/cell) and 90% for Li-Ion. Wind, props, tune, and video gear all move the number — treat this as a solid planning figure, not a stopwatch.

How this calculator works

Flight time is pack energy divided by power draw: volts × amp-hours × usable fraction, over average watts, times sixty. We use typical hover-efficiency figures per craft class (watts per gram of all-up weight) scaled by flying style, with usable capacity floored at 80% for LiPo — landing at ~3.5V per cell — and 90% for Li-Ion. The C-rating check estimates peak current at roughly 2–3× average and flags packs that physically can’t deliver it, which is why the calculator will tell you flatly that a Li-Ion pack won’t feed a racing quad.

The counterintuitive part

More battery does not mean more flight time forever. Every gram of pack raises hover power, so returns diminish — and once the battery passes about 40% of all-up weight, extra capacity mostly lifts itself while your handling turns to soup. That’s why the calculator watches battery-to-AUW ratio and calls out the weight spiral, and why two small whoop packs always beat one big one.

Next steps

Estimates in hand, hit the Flight Log for battery deep-dives, build guides, and gear reviews across FPV, camera, racing, and long-range setups — and treat your packs right: storage charge, balance charge, and retire the puffy ones before they retire your quad.