Privacy Policy

Effective Date: 18 Oct 2021

As flight simmers and proud members of the simulation community, we, Flight Simulation Association (“FSA”), value your privacy and trust. This Privacy Policy provides detail on the personally identifiable information we gather from users, how that information is used and protected, and the choices you have about how your information is used.

This Privacy Policy discloses the privacy practices of FSA and applies to personally identifiable information collected on our website, flightsimassociation.com (the “Website”). This Privacy Policy is incorporated into and subject to our Terms of Use. By using this Website and/or submitting your information to FSA, you agree, without limitation or qualification, to be bound by this Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to the terms in this policy, do not access this Website.

FSA is a membership-based organization intended for flight simulation enthusiasts, pilots, and aviation professionals. FSA is provided and owned by FlightSimExpo Management Inc. (“FSEM”), a Delaware corporation.

THIS WEBSITE IS DESIGNED FOR FLIGHT SIMULATION PURPOSES. THE CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE MUST NOT BE USED FOR “REAL-WORLD” AVIATION PURPOSES OR AS A SUBSTITUTE FOR RECEIVING INSTRUCTION FROM A CERTIFIED PROVIDER.

This Privacy Policy discusses:

• What information we gather from users.
• How we use the information we gather.
• How you can request we modify or remove your information/data.
• Where data is stored.
• How you can contact us with questions or feedback about your privacy.

Policy Changes

This Privacy Policy is effective as of the date written above. FSA reserves the right to make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time. If we change this policy in any material way, we will provide at least 30 days’ advance notification by posting a notice of the change on the Website. Changes will not be applied retroactively to information obtained under a previous policy without your express consent.

Each time you access the Website thereafter, you will be deemed to have accepted any such changes to the Privacy Policy.

Scope of this Policy

This Privacy Policy applies to the Website and other related Flight Simulation Association properties that post the policy. It does not apply to the annual FlightSimExpo event or the website at flightsimexpo.com, both of which are governed by separate policies.

Please know that any information (including personally identifying information) you reveal in a public forum (such in comments, on message boards, in webinars, or in similar electronic public venues) or via email with other FSA members, is not protected by this Privacy Policy. Such postings may be seen by members, guests, and/or third parties not related to FSA. What personally identifiable or other information you may provide could be used by others in ways we are unable to control or predict, including to contact you for purposes you did not authorize.

The Information We Gather

Information Gathered from Users

We gather the following information from users directly:

• Account Information: your first name, last name, and email address.
• Detailed Profile Information: optional information about your demographics, location, and flight simulation habits.
• Simmer Search Information: optional information you share as part of your Simmer Search profile.
• Other Activities: make a purchase, access a webinar, participate in chat rooms or otherwise communicate with us or other members via the Website.

Account Information is required to distinguish you from other users. To create an account, you will need to provide an email address and password.

Providing Detailed Profile Information or Simmer Search Information is not required to access the Website but is a prerequisite for unlocking certain discounts and accessing certain components of the Website.

Should you elect to purchase a full membership, you will be asked to provide a billing address and credit card information, which will be processed and stored by our payment provider. We do not store credit card or address information.

You can update, correct, or delete your information through the Website or by contacting us at privacy@flightsimassociation.com. Updates, corrections, changes, and deletions will not have an effect on other information that we maintain, or information that we have provided to third parties in accordance with this Privacy Policy prior to such update, correction, change, or deletion.

You should be aware that it may not be technologically possible to remove each and every record of the information you have provided to us from our system. The need to back-up our systems to protect information from inadvertent loss means that a copy of your personally identifiable information may exist in a non-erasable form that will be difficult or impossible for us to locate.

If you interact with us via a social media platform (such as Facebook), the platform’s privacy policies regarding personally identifiable information you provide on the platform will apply and not this Privacy Policy.

Information We Collect Automatically

To maintain and improve the Website, we also automatically gather some statistical data when you visit this site. The exact information we collect may vary but can include the date and time of access to our sites, the Internet Protocol (IP) address of a computer requesting a page, the pages requested, computer and connection information such as device and browser type and operating system. We do not associate this statistical information with your personally identifiable information that we otherwise collect. We may use third party analytics providers to help us understand and use this statistical data.

Scope of this Policy

Account Information

We may use your Account Information to inform you of other products or services we offer, conduct surveys, notify you of discounts and webinars, and for other reasons based on configured settings. You can manage these notification settings and add or remove yourself from certain mailing lists on the Notifications page. You can also request to be unsubscribed from any email communication by emailing us at privacy@flightsimassociation.com. However, please note that you cannot opt out of receiving transactional/account-related emails from us while you have an account.

Service Providers

We may employ other companies to perform functions on our behalf, such as delivering packages, providing customer service, sending emails, processing credit card payments, hosting webinars or live chats, and other functions necessary for us to provide services to you. We may need to share your Account Information or other information with these companies. However, we will provide them with only the information necessary to perform their functions and will not allow them to use that information for any other purposes. These companies are contractually obligated to protect the security of personally identifiable information we share. We do not rent, sell, transfer, or otherwise disclose your personally identifiable information to any third party for their purposes. Be advised that we are not responsible for the privacy practices of these service providers.

Simmer Search

Simmer Search is an optional feature of the Website, available to subscribed members, that allows members to find other members by approximate geographical proximity. Users who opt to participate are consenting to sharing their first name, last initial, home airport, age range, and Simmer Search Information, including their email address, with other FSA Members. Participation in Simmer Search, including appearing in search results available to other members, is subject to our Terms of Use.

Communication FSA Members may have via email after having been “connected” via Simmer Search does not take place via our Website. Thus, it is outside of the scope of this Privacy Policy or our Terms of Use.

Members can opt out of Simmer Search, and delete their Simmer Search Information, at any time via the Website. However, FSA Members should be aware that any other members they have “connected” with could still have access to their email address, as well as any information they may have shared via email. For this reason, FSA Members are encouraged to use a specifically-created email address for all Simmer Search communication and may wish to also delete this dedicated email address if they choose to opt out of Simmer Search.

FSA makes Simmer Search available to facilitate optional email introductions between FSA Members. FSA will not be held responsible for any liability associated with Simmer Search, including but not limited to abuse of contact information, personal security, and decisions users make to meet with each other and actions resulting therefrom.

Other Sharing

We may reveal your personally identifiable information as necessary if we reasonably believe that you are harming or interfering with other Website users, anyone else, or violating (either intentionally or unintentionally) our Terms of Use, or infringing any FSA/FSEM rights, or trespassing on, damaging, or abusing any FSA/FSEM property. We will reveal information, including personally identifiable information, to the extent we are legally obligated to do so. In addition, if we are asked by subpoena or other legal means to disclose any of your personally identifiable information we will, if permitted by law, attempt to notify you via any email address we have on file for you at least ten (10) days before we respond to the request. In addition, FSA may transfer any information, including any personally identifiable information, in connection with a sale of all or most of the assets of the company and the Website.

Corporate Transaction

We may disclose personally identifiable information if we are involved in a merger, reorganization, dissolution, or other fundamental corporate change, or sell a website or business unit, or if all or a portion of our business, assets or stock are acquired by a third party. In accordance with applicable laws, we will use reasonable efforts to notify you of any transfer of personally identifiable information to an unaffiliated third party.

Scope of this Policy

Cookie Usage

A cookie is a piece of data stored on your computer’s hard drive that contains information about you and your computer. The cookies used on the Website do not contain any identification that would be useful to another individual or organization. We use cookies, for example, to remember your login information so you do not have to enter a username and password each time you return to the site (should you choose this option). We also use cookies to provide statistical information on site usage and personalize and enhance the online experience. Some of these cookies may be active during the time you are viewing a website (“session cookies”). Other cookies may remain on your computer after you have closed your browser or turned off your computer (“persistent cookies”). We may use tracking cookies on other websites, such as to serve you with targeted ads.

The following cookies are deployed on the Website:

• Strictly Necessary Cookies: These cookies are strictly necessary to provide the Website. For example, they are used to authenticate and identify returning users.
• Performance and Functionality Cookies: These cookies provide statistical information on site usage, such as web analytics. They also help us to personalize and enhance your online experience.

Just like any other usage information we collect, information from cookies allows us to improve the Website and customize your online experience. You can set your browser to accept all cookies, reject all cookies, or notify you when a cookie is set. See www.allaboutcookies.org to learn how to disable cookies on your browser or otherwise opt out of cookies. if you set your browser to disable all cookies or opt out, some features of the Website may not function properly.

We also use web beacons and pixels on our websites and in emails. For example, we may place a pixel in marketing emails that notify us when you click on a link in the email. We use these technologies to operate and improve our Website and marketing emails.

This Privacy Policy does not cover the use of cookies used by third parties, and we are not responsible for their privacy policies and practices. Please be aware that cookies placed by third parties may continue to track your activities online even after you have left our Website.

Google Analytics

We use Google Analytics to track Website views and general/aggregate data on website users. For more information on how Google uses data when using its partners' sites or apps, please visit this webpage. To provide Website visitors more choice on how their data is collected by Google Analytics, Google has developed an Opt-out Browser add-on to enable you to opt-out of Google’s programs.

Removal of Information

We will make reasonable efforts to ensure your personally identifiable information is accurate and complete and we will update or correct your information as needed upon request from you. You can view and update the information we store under My FSA Account. Successfully removing or “clearing” a field on the Website will also remove the corresponding information from our database. However, some fields contain required information that cannot be deleted without affecting your entire account.

At any time, you can delete your account with an option available under My FSA Account. Click the “Delete My Account” button and then select the “Delete my account profile data” option. Upon confirmation, we will immediately cancel your subscription and revoke Website access.

Although the “Delete My Account” option as described above will remove your data from our database, you should be aware that:

• Our payment provider may continue to store your billing information, history, and credit card information.
• Our deletion of your data within our database does not guarantee its removal from third-party providers’ databases, including those of Google Analytics.
• To ensure we honor your deletion request and that our records are accurate, we may retain your email address and correspondence with you.

In addition to the self-service options described above, you can email privacy@flightsimassociation.com to ask us to change, update, or delete your information.

Data Retention and Security

FSA retains your personally identifiable information for a period of time consistent with the original purpose of collection to provide you with the services you have requested, or as long as required to fulfill our legal obligations. We determine the appropriate retention period for personally identifiable information on the basis of the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personally identifiable information being processed, the potential risk of harm from unauthorized use or disclosure of the personally identifiable information, whether we can achieve the purposes of the processing through other means, and on the basis of applicable legal requirements (such as applicable statutes of limitation).

We have implemented commercially reasonable precautions and industry standard data practices to protect users’ information. Most user data are stored in secured databases at our hosting provider. We do not store credit card information or billing addresses. However, there is always risk inherent to providing information online. To reduce potential exposure, we encourage you to use an email address and password for this Website that is not used anywhere else on the internet.

If you establish an account with us, do not provide your login information, including your password, to another person. We cannot be responsible for a data breach or other incident if a password is used by unauthorized persons.

Vimeo

Our website uses features provided by the Vimeo video portal provided by Vimeo Inc.

If you visit one of our pages featuring a Vimeo plugin, a connection to the Vimeo servers is established. Here the Vimeo server is informed about which of our pages you have visited. In addition, Vimeo will receive your IP address. This also applies if you are not logged in to Vimeo when you visit our plugin or do not have a Vimeo account. The information is transmitted to a Vimeo server in the US, where it is stored.

If you are logged in to your Vimeo account, Vimeo allows you to associate your browsing behavior directly with your personal profile. You can prevent this by logging out of your Vimeo account.

For more information on how to handle user data, please refer to the Vimeo Privacy Policy at https://vimeo.com/privacy.

Google Web Fonts

For uniform representation of fonts, this page uses web fonts provided by Google. When you open a page, your browser loads the required web fonts into your browser cache to display texts and fonts correctly.

For this purpose your browser has to establish a direct connection to Google servers. Google thus becomes aware that our web page was accessed via your IP address. The use of Google Web fonts is done in the interest of a uniform and attractive presentation of our plugin. This constitutes a justified interest pursuant.

If your browser does not support web fonts, a standard font is used by your computer.

Further information about handling user data, can be found at https://developers.google.com/fonts/faq and in Google's privacy policy at https://www.google.com/policies/privacy/.

Located in the United States

FSA, FSEM, and our Website are owned and operated in the United States (US) and are governed by US law. If you are outside the US when you visit the Website or engage in communications with us, be aware that your personally identifiable information may be transferred to, stored, and processed by our data centers in the US. Any information you provide to us, or that we collect through your use of the Website, will be stored, processed, and transferred within, or to, the US. Please be aware that the US and jurisdictions other than the one in which you are located may not provide the same level of data protection as the location from which you are accessing the Website. Note also that your personally identifiable information may be available to the US Government or its agencies under legal processes in the US.

Additional information for residents of Europe, Canada, and California is provided in the sections below.

Children

For users in the United States, you must be at least 13 years old to access and use the Website. We do not knowingly collect information from persons under 13 years of age. If you are under 13, you should not access our Website, create an account, or provide any information to us.

For users in the European Economic Area and United Kingdom, you must be at least 16 years old to access and use the Website. We do not knowingly collect information from persons under 16 years of age. If you are under 16, you should not access our Website, create an account, or provide any information to us.

If you believe that we might have collected any personally identifiable information from a child under 13 (in the US) or under 16 (in the EEA or UK), please Contact Us so that we may delete it.

If you are under 18, or the age of majority in the jurisdiction in which you reside, you may only use the Website with the consent of your parent or legal guardian.

No Rights of Third Parties

This Privacy Policy does not create rights enforceable by third parties or require disclosure of any personally identifiable information relating to users of the Websites.

Local Privacy Rights

EEA and UK Residents

For residents of the European Economic Area (EEA) and United Kingdom (UK), we advise that your personally identifiable information will be transferred to and processed in the United States, which has data protection laws that are different than those in your country and may not be as protective. The United States has not sought or received a finding of “adequacy” from the European Union under Article 45 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our legal basis for collecting and using your personally identifiable information is to do so with your consent; where we need the personally identifiable information for performance of a contract or requested service, or where the collection and use is in our or another’s legitimate interests and not overridden by your data protection interests or fundamental rights and freedoms. In some cases, we may also have a legal obligation to collect the personally identifiable information in question. If we collected your personally identifiable information with your consent, you may withdraw your consent at any time.

Our retention of your personally identifiable information and any subsequent communications are based on our legitimate interest in providing you with new and potentially relevant materials based on your geography, role, or company. As always, you can elect to opt out from receiving such future communications.

To the extent that we transfer personally identifiable information from the EEA to a jurisdiction outside the EEA that has not been adduced by the European Commission as providing adequate data protections (such as the United States), we will ensure that such personally identifiable information is safeguarded through appropriate contractual terms or other approved mechanisms.

Rights for EEA Residents

If you are a resident of the EEA or UK, you have the right to:

• Find out if we use your personally identifiable information, to access your personally identifiable information and receive copies of your personally identifiable information.
• Withdraw any express consent that you have provided to the processing of your personally identifiable information at any time without penalty.
• Access your personally identifiable information and have it corrected or amended if it is inaccurate or incomplete.
• Obtain a transferable copy of some of your personally identifiable information which can be transferred to another provider when the personally identifiable information was processed based on your consent.
• If you believe your personally identifiable information is inaccurate, no longer necessary for our business purposes, or if you object to our processing of your personally identifiable information, you also have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your data pending our investigation and/or verification of your claim.
• Request your personally identifiable information be deleted or restricted under certain circumstances. For example, if is using your personally identifiable information on the basis of your consent and has no other legal basis to use such, you may request your personally identifiable information be deleted when you withdraw your consent.

Withdrawing your consent will not affect the lawfulness of any processing we conducted prior to your withdrawal, nor will it affect processing of your personally identifiable information conducted in reliance on lawful processing grounds other than consent.

If we ask you to provide personally identifiable information to us to comply with a legal requirement or enter into a contract, we will inform you of this and let you know whether providing us with your personally identifiable information is required and if not, the consequences of not sharing your personally identifiable information with us.

Similarly, if we collect and use your personally identifiable information in reliance on our or a third party's legitimate interests and those interests are not already described above, we will let you know what those legitimate interests are.

We endeavor to apply suitable safeguards to protect the privacy and security of your personally identifiable information and to use it only consistent with your relationship with us and the practices described in this Privacy Policy.

To withdraw consent or exercise these rights, please contact us via email at privacy@flightsimassociation.com.

If you are not satisfied with our response, or believe we are processing your personally identifiable information in violation of the law, you have the right to lodge a complaint with the Supervisory Authority (also known as Data Protection Authority) or other appropriate governmental authority in your EEA Member State. A list of Supervisory Authorities is available here: https://edpb.europa.eu/about-edpb/board/members_en.

FlightSimExpo Management Inc., located at:

FlightSimExpo Management Inc.
410 Boston Post Road, Suite 28

Sudbury, MA 01776 USA

The data protection officer is the CEO of FlightSimExpo Management Inc.

The data controller is FlightSimExpo Management Inc.

Residents of Canada

Users of the Website from Canada are informed we take appropriate steps to comply with applicable Canadian data privacy requirements, including the Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) and the Personally identifiable information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). Note, however, that personally identifiable information stored or processed outside of Canada, including in the US or another foreign country, may not be subject to the PIPEDA. In addition, personally identifiable information stored or processed outside of Canada is subject to the laws of that other country and may be available to the foreign government of the country in which the personally identifiable information or the entity controlling it is located pursuant to a lawful order in that jurisdiction. This Privacy Policy is intended to provide the required notices regarding our collection and use of personally identifiable information, including transfer to the United States.

You may request to access, correct, or delete your personally identifiable information, or withdraw consent to our collection, use or disclosure of your personally identifiable information, by contacting us at privacy@flightsimassociation.com.

These rights are subject to applicable contractual and legal restrictions and reasonable notice. We may take reasonable steps to verify your identity before honoring any such requests.

Residents of California

For California residents under the age of 18 and registered users of the Website, California law (Business and Professionals Code § 22581) provides that you can request the removal of content or information you posted on the Websites. Any such request should be sent to us via email at privacy@flightsimassociation.com along with a description of the posted content or other information to be removed.

Be advised, however, that applicable law may not permit us to completely or comprehensively remove your deleted content or for other reasons as set forth in California law.

FSA does not share or transfer personally identifiable information that would constitute a “sale” under the California Consumer Privacy Act.

We do not currently honor browsers’ Do Not Track signals with respect to our Website.

Your Choices and Rights

Members can access and update their personally identifiable information from within their account.

Subject to applicable law, an individual has the right to request from us a copy of what personally identifiable information that we have collected or to ask to correct or update their it. Individuals can also request that we delete their personally identifiable information from our systems and records. We strive to respond to these requests with 30 days or as required in accordance with applicable law.

Whenever you directly provide us with your personally identifiable information, please be sure it is accurate and complete. We cannot be responsible for any information you provide to us that is incomplete or incorrect.

We will not collect, use, or disclose your personally identifiable information in any ways or for any purposes that are materially different from those set forth herein. However, if we wish to do so in the future, we will obtain your consent first, and offer you the choice to opt-out of such proposed collection, use, or disclosure.

If we send you promotional or marketing messages, you will be able to opt out of receiving our marketing or promotional email communications by using the “Unsubscribe” feature at the bottom of each email from us or by requesting to opt out by emailing us at privacy@flightsimassociation.com. Please note that you cannot opt out of receiving transactional communications from us regarding services you request, your account with us or other transactional or administrative issues.

Questions about this Policy

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please email us at privacy@flightsimassociation.com or write to us at:

FlightSimExpo Management Inc.
410 Boston Post Road, Suite 28
Sudbury, MA 01776 USA