Privacy Policy

Legal

Last updated: 11-AUG-2026

This Privacy Policy explains how the 9th Reconnaissance Wing (Virtual) ("the Organisation", "we", "us", or "our") collects, uses, and protects personal data belonging to members and visitors of this website and our associated services, including our member management system (vSOMS).

This Organisation is a flight simulation community operating on the VATSIM network. We are not affiliated with VATSIM, the United States Air Force, or any government agency. This policy is written with reference to the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the UK GDPR, and applies to members regardless of their location, as our membership is international.

1. Who we are and how to contact us

The Organisation is run by volunteers as a non-commercial flight simulation community. For any questions about this policy or your personal data, contact us at: [contact email address].

We do not have a formal Data Protection Officer, as we are a small volunteer organisation. The contact above is responsible for handling data protection queries.

2. What data we collect

We collect and process the following categories of personal data:

VATSIM identity data: your VATSIM CID (Certificate ID), and the name associated with your VATSIM account.
Contact information: an email address you provide when registering for membership, used for account verification and organisational communications.
Membership and activity data: your roles, ranks, qualifications, training records, flight logs, mission claims, and related operational data recorded within vSOMS as part of membership administration.
Technical data: basic, non-identifying technical information generated by your use of this website and vSOMS (such as timestamps of activity), used for security and to operate the service.

We do not collect special categories of data (such as health, religion, or biometric data), and we do not knowingly collect data from children.

3. How we use your data

We use your personal data for the following purposes:

To administer your membership of the Organisation;
To verify your identity against your VATSIM account;
To record training progress, qualifications, and flight activity required for VATSIM Special Operations compliance and internal administration;
To communicate with you about membership matters, training, events, and organisational updates;
To maintain the public active pilot roster, which displays VATSIM CIDs only, as required by VATSIM Special Operations policy;
To maintain the security, integrity, and proper operation of our systems.

4. Legal basis for processing

Where GDPR applies, we rely on the following legal bases:

Consent — for optional communications and for publishing your CID on the public roster. You may withdraw consent at any time by contacting us, which may result in removal from active membership records.
Legitimate interests — for administering membership, maintaining training and flight records, and operating our systems securely, where this does not override your rights and freedoms.
Contractual necessity — where processing is necessary to provide membership services you have requested by joining the Organisation.

5. Who we share data with

We do not sell or rent personal data. We may share limited data with:

Our hosting providers, who process data on our behalf under appropriate agreements;
VATSIM and the VATSIM Special Operations Division (VSOD), where required for compliance, auditing, or reporting under VATSIM policy (for example, providing evidence of active pilot counts during an audit);
Other VATSIM Special Operations organisations, only where you participate in joint events and only to the extent necessary to coordinate that activity.

6. International data transfers

As our membership and infrastructure may be located in different countries, your data may be processed outside of your country of residence, including outside the European Economic Area or United Kingdom. Where this occurs, we take reasonable steps to ensure your data continues to be protected to a standard consistent with this policy.

7. Data retention

We retain personal data for as long as you remain an active member, and for a reasonable period afterwards to maintain historical records, resolve disputes, and meet any reporting obligations under VATSIM policy. If you leave the Organisation, you may request deletion of your personal data, subject to any records we are required to retain.

8. Your rights

Subject to applicable law, you have the right to:

Access the personal data we hold about you;
Request correction of inaccurate data;
Request deletion of your data ("right to be forgotten"), subject to any legal or organisational retention requirements;
Object to or restrict certain processing;
Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent;
Request a copy of your data in a portable format.

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at the email address above. We will respond within a reasonable timeframe.

9. Cookies

This website uses a single essential cookie to remember whether you have responded to the consent notice shown on your first visit. This cookie does not track you across other websites and is not used for advertising. No other cookies or browser storage are used by this website.

10. Security

We take reasonable technical and organisational measures to protect your personal data, including encrypted connections (HTTPS) across our website and member systems, and access controls on our administration systems. However, no system can be guaranteed to be completely secure.

11. Changes to this policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. The "Last updated" date at the top of this page indicates when it was last revised. Significant changes will be communicated to members through our usual communication channels.

12. Complaints

If you have concerns about how we handle your personal data, please contact us first so we can try to resolve the issue. If you remain unsatisfied, you have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection supervisory authority.