Privacy Policy
Effective 16 September 2026
In short
- We collect what is needed to plan, file, fly and log flights, and nothing for advertising.
- We do not sell your information, and we do not track you across other apps or websites.
- Your location is shared with other people only when you choose to share it.
- Voice commands are recognised on your phone. No audio recording leaves your device.
- You can delete your account from inside the app at any time.
1. Who we are
Flight Plan Online (“we”, “us”) provides a flight planning service for pilots, aircraft operators and flight schools, through the website at new.flightplanonline.co.za and the Flight Plan Online mobile apps for Android and iOS. This policy covers all of them.
We are based in South Africa and process personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013 (POPIA).
2. The information we collect
Your account
Your name, email address and company or flight school name. Your password is stored only in a one-way hashed form, which means we cannot read it.
Records you or your organisation keep with us
The service holds the operational records a flight planning and flight school system needs. Depending on how your organisation uses it, these can include:
- Pilot records — name, contact email and mobile number, licence number and expiry, medical expiry, qualifications, date of birth, body weight (used for weight and balance calculations), and a photo if one is added.
- Flying records — flight plans, logbook entries, schedules and bookings, weight and balance sheets, and training records.
- Aircraft and business records — aircraft details, maintenance records, fuel records, and invoices you upload.
Where you are a pilot or student at a flight school, your school may enter and manage these records about you.
Location
The mobile app uses your device’s precise location while you are planning or recording a flight — for example to show your position on the map, record the track you flew, and fill in your logbook. It is used for these features only, and never for advertising.
Voice commands
If you use the voice assistant, speech is converted to text on your device. No audio recording is sent to us or to anyone else. When the app cannot understand a command on its own, the text of that command is sent to our AI provider to interpret (see section 4).
Devices you sign in on
We keep a record of the devices signed in to your account, so that you can see them and sign them out, and so that sessions can be kept secure.
Support conversations
Messages you send us through in-app or website support.
Payments
Subscription payments are processed by PayFast. Your card details are entered with PayFast and are not received or stored by us. We keep a record of your payments and subscription.
3. How we use it
- To provide the service: planning routes, filing ICAO flight plans, weight and balance, logbooks, scheduling, maintenance and invoicing.
- To show flights live and let you replay them, including in flight groups and races you choose to join.
- To manage your account, subscription and payments.
- To send you account emails, such as verification and password reset messages.
- To answer your support requests.
- To keep the service secure and prevent misuse, such as repeated free trials.
We do not use your information for advertising, and we do not build advertising profiles.
4. Who we share it with
People you choose to share with
- Your organisation. Administrators of your company or flight school can see the records held in its account.
- Flight groups. Sharing your position with a group is off by default and you switch it on per flight. When it is on, group members see your aircraft call sign, a display name you choose, and your position. Positions already shared cannot be recalled.
- Races. If you enter a race, the organiser sees your aircraft’s position and race details during the event, and so does anyone the organiser gives the race’s spectator link to.
Service providers who work for us
We use the following providers to run the service. They receive only what they need for the job described.
| Provider | What for | What they receive |
|---|---|---|
| PayFast | Processing subscription payments | Payment details you enter with them, and the amount |
| Anthropic (Claude) | AI features: interpreting voice commands, reading uploaded invoices, looking up aircraft types, and support chat | The text of commands, the invoices you upload, aircraft details, and support messages |
| Our email provider | Sending account emails | Your email address and the message |
| Open-Meteo and Open-Elevation | Weather and terrain height along a route | Map coordinates only — no name or account details |
| OpenStreetMap | Map images | The map area being viewed, requested by your device |
Legal reasons
We may disclose information where the law requires it, or where it is needed to protect the safety of people or the security of the service.
We do not sell personal information to anyone.
5. Information processed outside South Africa
Some of the providers listed above, including Anthropic, Open-Meteo, Open-Elevation and OpenStreetMap, are based outside South Africa, so information sent to them is processed outside South Africa.
6. How long we keep it, and deleting your account
We keep your information for as long as your account is active and it is needed to provide the service.
Deleting your account
You can delete your account yourself in the mobile app, and deletion takes effect immediately. What is removed depends on whether you are the only person on your account:
- If others use the same company or flight school account, your own user account and sign-in are deleted and your devices are signed out. The organisation’s records — for example flight plans and logbook entries held in its account — stay with that organisation, which controls them. Ask the organisation if you want those removed.
- If you are the only person on the account, the whole account is deleted: the company or school, its users, and all of its records.
After an account is deleted we keep a small record containing the email address, the organisation it belonged to, whether a free trial had been used, and how the account was closed. We keep this only to prevent the same free trial being claimed repeatedly. You can ask us to remove it.
You can also ask us to delete your account or your information by emailing info@flightplanonline.co.za.
7. Security
Information travels between your device and our service over encrypted connections (HTTPS). Passwords are stored hashed, and access to accounts is protected by sign-in sessions that can be revoked. No system is perfectly secure, but we take reasonable measures to protect your information.
8. Your rights
Under POPIA you have the right to:
- ask what personal information we hold about you, and for a copy of it;
- ask us to correct information that is wrong or incomplete;
- ask us to delete your information;
- object to how we process your information; and
- lodge a complaint with the Information Regulator of South Africa at inforegulator.org.za.
To use any of these rights, email info@flightplanonline.co.za.
9. Changes to this policy
We may update this policy as the service changes. When we do, the effective date at the top of this page will change.
10. Contact us
Flight Plan Online
Email: info@flightplanonline.co.za