This policy explains what personal data Earth's Elite keeps about you when you use earthelite.co.uk, our forums, LaunchPad, the Virtual Airline and our game servers, why we keep it, how long for, and the rights you have over it. We've tried to keep it plain and short.

Who we are

Earth's Elite is a gaming community run by volunteers. We are the "controller" of your data, which means we decide how it's used. You can reach us about anything in this policy through our Contact us page.

What we keep, and why

The law asks us to say the "lawful basis" for each use. For most of what we do it's legitimate interests: running a community and its website in the way members expect. Where it's consent, you can withdraw it at any time.

Your forum account

  • Your username, display name, email address, date of birth, password (stored scrambled, never readable), the date you joined, your posts and private messages, and the IP addresses you use. We ask for your date of birth when you sign up, so we know how old our members are.
  • Optional profile details you choose to add, such as your location or avatar.
  • Why: to give you an account and run the forums. Basis: legitimate interests.
  • How long: until you delete your account, which you can do at earthelite.co.uk/account/delete. You choose what happens to your posts: keep them (they stay as guest posts under your old name, without your profile), delete your replies, or delete all your posts including topics you started. Senior Staff check each request before the account is deleted, and until then you can undo it by signing in to the forum.

Membership and staff records on the website

  • Your rank, any staff roles, leaves of absence, staff applications and interviews, Academy courses and results, which Staff handbook pages members of staff have confirmed reading, event sign-ups, notifications, and notes or warnings staff have recorded.
  • Why: to organise the community, its staff and its events. Basis: legitimate interests.
  • How long: while you're a member. Notifications are deleted after a year at most. Six months after your forum account is deleted, we delete these records automatically. A few records other people rely on are kept without your name: the staff log, donation totals, and notes you wrote on someone else's application or report.

Contact us and Report a problem

  • Your name, email address, message, IP address and browser details. If you're not signed in, we email you a code to check the address is yours before the message is sent.
  • If you make a data protection request by email, staff record who it's from, what you asked and when it arrived here instead, and then delete the email.
  • Why: to reply to you and to stop spam. Basis: legitimate interests.
  • How long: answered or closed messages are deleted automatically 6 months after the last reply. Messages marked as spam are deleted after 30 days.

Parental permission (members under 13)

  • When someone under 13 signs up, we keep their name and date of birth with a single-use code, stored scrambled, which their parent or guardian enters on our website. The parent or guardian gives their name, whether they're the parent or legal guardian, and their email address, and agrees to a statement. We record when they did, with their IP address and browser details. To stop codes being guessed, we note the IP address of each attempt for a day.
  • Why: to have a parent's or guardian's permission before a child under 13 joins. Basis: legitimate interests, in protecting children.
  • Who sees it: Senior Staff only, and each time it's opened is logged. It's never sent by email.
  • How long: deleted on the member's 13th birthday, or 6 months after their account is deleted, whichever comes first. Codes that aren't used are deleted after 14 days. A parent or guardian can withdraw permission through Contact us, which suspends the account.

Emails we send

  • Who we emailed, the subject and the content, so we can see whether it was delivered.
  • How long: 30 days. You choose which emails you get under Notification settings, and every email we send members links there.

Emails you send us

  • Please don't send personal information by email. Our email is hosted by MXroute, whose servers are in the United States, so we can't keep it to the standard we keep the website. If you email us personal information, we delete it and reply asking you to send it again through Contact us or Report a problem, which keep it on our own server in the UK. Our reply doesn't repeat what you sent.
  • There are two exceptions. If your email is about someone in danger, illegal content or a child at risk, we act on it first, and keep it for as long as the police need. If you use your data protection rights by email, we record your request on our website, deal with it, and then delete the email.

LaunchPad (only if you install it)

  • The games it finds on your PC, when you play them and for how long, and the devices you've signed in on. If you link Steam: your Steam ID, Steam name and recently played games.
  • Why: to show who's playing what and add up your hours. Basis: consent, because you choose to install it and link Steam.
  • You choose who can see what you're playing and your hours. You can unlink Steam or sign a device out at any time, and uninstalling stops all collection.
  • How long: the details of each play session are kept for 6 months. After that we only keep your total hours for each game, which are deleted along with your other records if your account is deleted.

Virtual Airline (only if you join)

  • Your pilot record: your callsign, rank (and whether you've chosen not to move up yet, or taken Senior Captain), home hub, current airport in the airline, hours, the date you joined, and who you've chosen can see your name.
  • Your flights: the legs you book, and the flight reports you send (date, flight time, where you landed and any note you add for staff).
  • Your type ratings and check rides: which aircraft you're rated on and how you got each rating, and the result of each check ride, including any limit it missed. Anyone can see the ratings you hold. Only you and airline staff can see check ride results.
  • If you use the flight tracker app: the PCs you've signed in on, and for each flight the sim's position, altitude, speed, heading and fuel, your landing rate, whether slew, sim rate, overspeed or stall warnings came up, which sim you used, and the aircraft name the sim reports. This is your position in the game, not your real location. The tracker only runs while you have it open, and only records a flight when you press Start tracking. The tracker uses a small EE add-on inside your sim, which you install yourself from the app's settings. The add-on only saves these flight values in its own folder on your PC for the app to read, and it sends nothing itself. Whether your aircraft crashed in the sim is also recorded.
  • Flight grades: each flight you complete gets a grade from your airmanship, airline procedures, punctuality and, when you have passengers, passenger satisfaction, which uses the sim's bank angle and G-forces and your seat belt signs. These go towards an overall rating. Only you and airline staff can see each flight's grade and how your rating is made up.
  • Co-pilots: who you've added as a co-pilot, requests you've sent or received, invitations to fly together, and which flights you flew together. Your co-pilots see your callsign, plus your name only if your settings allow it. You can remove a co-pilot at any time, and turn off requests from other pilots. If you're under 18 or your account has no date of birth, you can send requests but other pilots can't send them to you. If you fly as co-pilot in a shared cockpit, your app sends your sim's position while the flight is being tracked, so we can check you were aboard. We delete those positions as soon as the flight parks, or within 3 days at the latest, and only keep whether they matched. If they didn't, airline staff decide whether your share of the flight counts. Your co-pilots can also see a profile with your callsign, your name if your settings allow it, and what you choose to share from your rank, group, overall grade, last 5 flights, hours and current airport. If you're under 18 or your account has no date of birth, your grade is never shared. If you hide your flights, co-pilots don't see them either.
  • Adults and under-18s can't fly together. If you're under 18 or your account has no date of birth, you can still add adult co-pilots, but you can't fly with them.
  • Diversions: if you declare a diversion, we record what dispatch did next, such as a flight on to your destination or a repair. For a fuel diversion, you choose what caused it from a list, and if you say it was your own error, that flight's grade loses some points. Only you and airline staff can see these.
  • Milestones: we work out milestones from your flights, such as your first flight or 100 hours, and keep the date you reached each one. Only you and airline staff can see them.
  • Statistics: the airline's statistics page shows totals for everyone's flights, such as hours flown and the busiest routes. It never names a pilot, and a route only shows once several flights have flown it.
  • Desktop notifications: the app can show your airline alerts as Windows notifications. This only uses what the app already receives, stays on your PC, and can be turned off in its settings.
  • Installing and updates: the app checks our website for a new version when it starts and every 4 hours. Like any visit, this shows our server your IP address, but nothing else about you. Uninstalling the app removes the EE add-on from your sims and deletes everything the app kept on your PC, including its sign-in. Your airline record on our website stays until you leave the airline.
  • Schedules: if you build a schedule, we keep its aircraft, legs, due times, how each leg kept time and how the schedule ended. Only you and airline staff can see these, although other pilots can see that the aircraft is booked and until when.
  • We check the date of birth on your forum account whenever your pilot record is shown. If you're under 18, or your account has no date of birth, your name never shows on the airline pages, only your callsign, and you can't change this. Once your account shows you're 18 or over, you can choose. We don't copy your date of birth into your pilot record.
  • Live map and flight pages: while you're tracking a flight, anyone can see it on the airline's live map: the flight number, route, planned route if you've made a SimBrief plan, aircraft type, phase, position, heading, altitude and speed. Your accepted flights have their own page with the saved track, which anyone can replay, and the latest ones are listed on the airline's home page without your name or callsign. You can choose in the app or on the website's privacy page to hide your flights from other people, which takes you off the map and hides your logbook and flight pages. Airline staff can still see them. If you're under 18 or your account has no date of birth, your flights start hidden. You can choose to show them, and they then show under your callsign only. While they're hidden, your co-pilots can still see your last 5 flights if you choose to share them in your co-pilot profile.
  • Flight times and diversions: when you book, you give a departure time, and the tracker logs when you first move and when you park, so we can show whether a flight left and arrived early or late. If you declare a diversion in flight, we log the airport and the reason you choose from a list. The airport you landed at and that you diverted can be seen by anyone, unless you hide your flights. The times and the reason are only for you and airline staff.
  • Landing report and procedure checks: if you use the tracker, it also notes your speed, bank and pitch at touchdown and any bounces, and which standard procedures were missed, such as landing lights below 10,000 ft or the 250-knot limit. To do this the add-on also reads your light and seatbelt switches. Your landing report is only for you. Your procedure score is only for you and airline staff. It doesn't stop an ordinary flight counting, but on a check ride, missing more than one procedure sends the flight to staff, who can fail the check ride. It's kept with your flight and is included when you ask for your data. Checklists you tick in the app stay on your own PC and aren't sent to us.
  • Grades and your overall rating: each flight the tracker records gets a score and a letter grade from the parts above, and your overall rating is the average of them. Each flight's grade is only for you and airline staff. Your overall rating is too, unless you choose to show it to signed-in members or everyone, which you can change at any time. If you hide your flights, your rating is hidden too. If you're under 18, or your account has no date of birth, only you and airline staff can see it, and you can't change this.
  • Weather radar: if you turn on the live map's radar, your browser gets the images from our website, so RainViewer, who supply them, don't see your IP address or anything about you. Weather data by RainViewer.
  • Map images: the map's images come from OpenFreeMap, through Cloudflare, so your browser, or the tracker app if you open its live map, connects to them and they will see your IP address. Their own privacy terms apply.
  • Your callsign, rank, hub, current airport, hours and accepted flights can be seen by anyone, unless you hide your flights: the date, flight number, route, aircraft type, flight time and landing rate. If you're 18 or over, you choose whether your name shows to everyone, members only or nobody. Airline staff can always see who you are.
  • Staff only: notes on flight reports, the aircraft name the sim reports (it can include livery text) and the reasons a tracked flight needs checking. Staff replies come to you as a notification.
  • Stream overlay: if you're an adult member of the Stream Team, you can turn on an overlay for your own stream. You control it, and it's off until you turn it on. While you're tracking a flight it shows your route, aircraft type, flight phase, altitude, ground speed, airspeed, heading, vertical speed, flight time and landing rate, each of which you can turn off, plus your flight number if you choose. It never shows your name or callsign. Viewers may be able to match these details to the public airline pages and your pilot record. It's served from the app on your own PC, not by us, and each time it runs the app asks our website whether you can still use it. What appears on your stream is also covered by Twitch's terms and privacy policy.
  • SimBrief: planning a flight is optional. If you use "Plan in SimBrief", SimBrief opens and you sign in with your own account. We send it the flight details, not your personal details. SimBrief's own terms and privacy policy apply there.
  • Your SimBrief plan: when you plan or import a flight, we keep the plan so you can read it in the app: the route, altitude, fuel, times and SimBrief's briefing text, which can include your name. Only you can see the full plan, not staff or other pilots. We delete it after 3 days, or sooner once your booking ends. We don't store your SimBrief ID.
  • Planning in the app: SimBrief opens in a window inside the app, using Microsoft's WebView2. You sign in on SimBrief and Navigraph's own pages. The app doesn't read those pages or your password, and stays signed in to SimBrief through a browser profile kept on your own PC. SimBrief and Navigraph handle what you do there under their own privacy policies, including any cookies you agree to. WebView2 sends diagnostic data to Microsoft, and some of this can't be turned off. If you'd rather not use the window, planning opens in your browser when WebView2 isn't installed, and you can always plan on SimBrief yourself and use Import. We keep a short-lived record so the app can open the planning page without you signing in to the website again. It's deleted within an hour.
  • Importing a plan: you give us your Navigraph alias and we send it to SimBrief once, when you press Import, to fetch your latest plan. The website doesn't keep it. The app remembers it in a file on your own PC.
  • Why: to run the airline, check flights and show your progress. Basis: consent, because you choose to join and choose to use the tracker.
  • How long: position records are kept with your flights so they can be replayed, for as long as you're a member of the airline. You can sign a PC out in the app or on the website's privacy page at any time. Leaving the airline in either place deletes your record, bookings, flights and positions straight away. Otherwise they're deleted with your other records 6 months after your forum account is deleted.

Donations

  • Payments are made through PayPal, which handles your payment details under its own privacy policy. We keep the amount, the date, PayPal's transaction reference, and whether you'd like your name shown. We never receive your card details, and we don't store your PayPal name or email address.
  • Why: to keep track of money given to the community. Basis: legitimate interests, and keeping accounts.

Streaming and events

  • If you're on the Stream Team or take part in a stream event: your Twitch channel and the public stream details Twitch provides, and your event settings and activity.
  • Basis: legitimate interests, as you've asked to take part.

Game servers and TeamSpeak

  • Our game servers keep the in-game details you create, such as your FiveM characters, their in-game money and vehicles.
  • Our TeamSpeak server sees your nickname, IP address and TeamSpeak identity while you're connected.

Staff email (webmail) (staff with an @earthelite.co.uk mailbox only)

  • Our webmail at webmail.earthelite.co.uk keeps your email address, settings, contacts, the addresses you've recently sent to, and your two-step verification details, which are stored encrypted. Contacts and recent addresses can include people outside Earth's Elite whom you email.
  • We log failed sign-ins and failed verification codes, with the IP address used.
  • Why: to give staff email and keep mailboxes secure. Basis: legitimate interests.
  • How long: sign-in logs are deleted after 90 days. Your webmail details are kept while you have a mailbox and deleted when it's closed. A backup made before each webmail update is replaced by the next one, and deleted after 90 days at most.

Staff actions

  • When staff change something in the admin panel, we record who, what, when and their IP address, so changes can be checked.

Cookies

We only use cookies the site needs to work, such as the one that keeps you signed in. There's no advertising and no tracking or analytics. Pages that show Twitch streams ask first, because Twitch sets its own cookies. The full list, and your Twitch choice, is on our Cookies page.

Who we share it with

We don't sell your data, and we don't share it with advertisers. It's only seen by:

  • Our staff, as much as their role needs.
  • Other members, for things that are public by design, like your forum posts, your rank, what you're playing in LaunchPad if you allow it, and your airline callsign and flights unless you hide them.
  • Anyone visiting the site or forums, for your age on your forum profile, and your name and birthday (without the year) on the calendar.
  • Our hosting provider, Iniz, which runs our servers. The website, forums and game servers are in London, UK, and our TeamSpeak server is in Amsterdam, Netherlands, which has the same data protection law as the UK.
  • Our email provider, MXroute, which holds email sent to and from @earthelite.co.uk addresses on servers in the United States. It doesn't offer a data processing agreement, which is why we don't accept personal information by email and delete any we receive (see "Emails you send us").
  • Map and planning services for the Virtual Airline: OpenFreeMap and Cloudflare, which supply the map images and see your IP address; and Microsoft, whose WebView2 runs the app's SimBrief window and sends it diagnostic data.
  • Services you choose to use through us: Twitch, Steam, PayPal, and SimBrief and Navigraph for planning airline flights. Each has its own privacy policy. Some are based in the USA, so your data may be handled there under the safeguards those companies use.
  • The police or other authorities, if the law requires it, or to protect someone from harm.

Children

You must be 13 or over to join. If you're under 13, a parent or guardian must give permission, using the form on our website, before you can join. If we learn we hold data about a child without the agreement we need, we'll delete it. In the Virtual Airline, members under 18 are shown by their callsign only and can't fly with adults. We never use anyone's data for advertising. The airline's flight grades are only about simulated flying, and decide nothing outside the game.

Your rights

You can ask us to:

  • See the data we hold about you, and get a copy (a "subject access request").
  • Correct anything that's wrong.
  • Delete your data. You can delete your account yourself at earthelite.co.uk/account/delete. Membership needs an account, so deleting it means losing your rank and roles.
  • Limit or object to how we use it.
  • Move data you gave us to another service, in a common file format.
  • Withdraw consent where that's our basis, such as LaunchPad, Steam linking and the Virtual Airline.

To do any of these, use Contact us. We may need to check it's really you first. We'll reply within one month, and it's free. Members can also download their forum data themselves from their forum profile (Profile, then Actions, then Download profile data).

If you're unhappy with how we've handled your data, please tell us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk/make-a-complaint.

Keeping it safe

The site uses a secure (HTTPS) connection, passwords are never stored in a readable form, and only staff who need it can see members' records. Staff actions in the admin panel are logged. Staff webmail needs two-step verification.

Changes to this policy

If we change this policy, we'll update it here and change the date below. If a change makes a real difference to how we use your data, we'll also tell members on the site.

Read this alongside our Terms of service.

Last updated 9 November 2026.