Drone Flight Time Calculator & Formula Explained

Estimating flight time is essential for maximizing drone efficiency. Our drone flight time calculator, coupled with a detailed formula and examples, helps you plan longer and more efficient flights with ease.

Drone flight time is the duration a drone can fly continuously on a fully charged battery. This is a crucial metric that depends on battery capacity, weight, power consumption, and efficiency of the drone’s motors and propellers.

Factors Affecting Drone Flight Time

• Battery Capacity: Measured in milliampere-hours (mAh) or watt hours (Wh), larger capacities provide longer flight times.
• Drone Weight: Heavier drones consume more power to lift and maintain flight.
• Power Consumption: Affected by motors, electronics, payload (e.g., cameras), and flight speed.
• Efficiency: High efficiency motors and optimized propellers increase flight time.
• Environmental Conditions: Wind, temperature, and altitude impact performance.

Drone Flight Time Calculator

You can likely find a drone flight time calculator online by searching for one. This article explains the formula behind it.

Drone Flight Time Formula

The drone’s flight time can be estimated with the following formula:

Where:

• Flight Time is in minutes
• Battery Capacity (mAh): The battery’s rated capacity.
• Battery Voltage (V): The nominal voltage of the battery.
• Power Consumption (W): Average power consumed by the drone during flight.
• 60: Converts hours to minutes.

Example Calculation

Inputs:

• Battery Capacity = 5000 mAh
• Battery Voltage = 14.8 V
• Power Consumption = 200 W

Output:

• Flight Time (Minutes) = 22.2
• Adjusted = 17.8 minutes (22.2 x 80/100)

Conclusion

Drone flight time in real-world scenarios is usually lower due to hovering inefficiencies, payload weight like cameras or sensors, battery health deterioration over time, etc. If we assume a 20% efficiency loss, Adjusted Flight Time equals 17.8 minutes.

Using the drone flight time calculator and formula, you can better prepare for drone operations, extending your flight duration while optimizing battery performance.

Drone Flight Time can be optimized by using higher capacity batteries, reducing drone weight by removing unnecessary payloads, ensuring motors and propellers are well maintained and efficient, as well as avoiding flying in strong winds or extreme temperatures, etc.