Privacy Policy
TheAIR.Tech and Pilot Companion · last updated 24 October 2026
This policy explains what personal information TheAIR.Tech collects through theair.tech and the Pilot Companion app, why, and your rights under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).
1. Who is responsible
The Aerial Intelligence and Reconnaissance Technology Group (“TheAIR.Tech”, “we”, “us”), [legal form, e.g. (Pty) Ltd / sole proprietor], registration number [registration number], VAT number [number]
Physical address: [street address], Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa
Email: hello@theair.tech · Telephone: +27 (0) 74 580 0662 · Website: theair.tech
Information Officer: Frank Moody, hello@theair.tech.
2. What we collect
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your account: name, email address, your password stored only as a one-way hash (we cannot read it), and which version of the Terms of Service you accepted and when. | To give you access, sign you in, and contact you about your account. |
| Your subscription: plan, dates, PayFast payment references, amounts and PayFast’s subscription reference. Never your card details — those go to PayFast only. | To run your subscription and keep the financial records the law requires. |
| Security information: sign-in times, and your internet (IP) address for a short time to stop password guessing and abuse. | To protect your account and the service. |
| Messages you send us, through the contact form or by email, including error reports and feature requests sent to feedback@theair.tech (with any screenshots). | To answer you, fix errors and keep a record of safety-related reports. |
3. What stays on your device
Your saved flights, aircraft, own airfields and settings in the Ready Room are stored in your own browser, not on our server. When you ask for a briefing, the route positions and aerodrome codes are sent to our server to fetch weather, winds and NOTAMs; your device’s GPS position (on the Map tab) is used on your device only and is never sent to us.
4. Who else receives information
- PayFast (South Africa) processes your payments and receives your name, email address and the subscription details. Your card details are handled under PayFast’s own privacy policy.
- Our hosting provider ([hosting company]) stores the website, the members database and our email on its servers.
- Weather and data services (including NOAA in the USA, MET Norway and Open-Meteo in Europe) receive aerodrome codes and route positions from our server to answer a briefing. They do not receive your name or email address.
- Google Fonts and YouTube serve the fonts and videos on our public pages; your browser connects to them directly, which shares your IP address with Google.
We do not sell your personal information or use it for advertising. We only share it otherwise if the law requires it.
5. How long we keep it
- Account details: while you have an account. Delete your account on the account page, or ask us to, and we remove them.
- Payment records: five years after the payment, as the Tax Administration Act requires.
- Security records (IP addresses for rate limiting): about a day.
6. Cookies
We use only the cookies the service needs: a sign-in cookie that keeps you signed in on a device for up to 30 days, and a form-security cookie that protects our forms and is removed when you close the browser. We use no advertising or tracking cookies.
7. Security
The site works only over an encrypted (HTTPS) connection. Passwords are stored as one-way hashes. The members database is kept outside the public web folder. Sign-in attempts are rate-limited, and only the administrator can see the list of members.
8. Your rights
You can ask us to tell you what personal information we hold about you, to correct it, or to delete it, and you can object to how we use it. Email hello@theair.tech. You can also complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa): inforegulator.org.za.
9. Changes
We will post any change to this policy here, and email members if it affects them.