Privacy notice

Captain Thinking Ltd (company number 16568038, registered in England and Wales) is the data controller for personal information collected through this website. Our registered office is ESDG, 44 Royal Parade Mews, London, SE3 0TN.

If you have any questions about this notice or your information, contact us at helpdesk@captainthinking.com. This notice explains what we collect, why, how long we keep it and your rights under the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018.

Bookings and career chats: your name, email address, flying level or experience (or that you are considering a flying career, or are a parent or guardian), the topic you choose, any notes you give us, the session date and time, and which team member it is with.

Audio debriefs: your name, email, experience level, topic, the written answer or question you send and any share link you provide (for example to an audio recording or CV). We do not accept file uploads; files stay with the sharing service you choose.

Contact enquiries: your name, email, current role, approximate hours, areas of interest (including simulator sessions or career interest), what you are preparing for and anything else you tell us.

Accounts and the Captains' Forum: your email address, a securely protected password (we never see it in plain text), your chosen display name, your membership details, and the discussions and replies you post, with the time posted.

Team members: for our own staff we also hold their availability, days off, assigned bookings and a record of important actions (see section 6).

Technical information: essential information needed to keep you signed in and keep the site secure, and standard server records such as IP address, browser type and time of request.

Please do not send us special category information (such as health or medical details) unless it is genuinely needed. If you choose to share it, for example in relation to a pilot medical, we will only use it to provide the service you asked for, with your explicit consent, which you can withdraw at any time.

Our services are not designed to collect information directly from children. Accounts and the Captains' Forum are for adults aged 18 or over. Where a session or product is for someone under 18, a parent or guardian makes the booking and provides the information, and we collect only what is needed (such as the young person's first name and general interest). If we learn that we hold information about a child provided without a parent or guardian's involvement, we will delete it.

To arrange and deliver sessions, debriefs, forum membership and products you request, and to contact you about them — lawful basis: performance of a contract.

To answer enquiries, including suggesting simulator providers, and to run and moderate the Captains' Forum and keep it safe — lawful basis: our legitimate interests in running and protecting our business and community.

To keep the website and accounts secure, prevent misuse and keep an internal record of important team actions — lawful basis: legitimate interests.

To keep financial and business records and meet legal obligations — lawful basis: legal obligation.

We do not sell your information, use it for automated decision-making or profiling, or send marketing emails without your consent. If you agree to receive news from us, you can unsubscribe at any time.

Our team: the owner and authorised staff can view bookings, debriefs, enquiries and all forum content so they can run the service. Each staff member only receives access after being approved by the owner, and is bound by confidentiality.

Other forum members: your display name and anything you post in the Captains' Forum can be seen by other members. Your email address is not shown to them. Please choose a display name you are comfortable with and do not post personal details.

Service providers: we use trusted providers to host the website, database and sign-in system, and to send email, who process information only on our instructions and under contract. When online payments are introduced, payments will be handled by a regulated payment provider; we will not see or store your full card details.

Simulator providers: we only pass your details to a simulator provider if you ask us to make an introduction.

We may disclose information if required by law, to protect someone's safety, or in connection with a sale or restructuring of our business.

For security and accountability, our systems automatically keep a record of important actions, such as staff being given or losing access and changes to the status of bookings, debriefs and enquiries. These records may include the name and email of the person concerned and are visible only to the owner. They cannot be edited.

Some of our service providers may store or process information outside the UK. Where this happens we make sure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as UK adequacy regulations or the International Data Transfer Agreement or Addendum approved by the ICO.

Booking, payment and business records: up to six years after the end of the relevant financial year, as required for tax and legal purposes.

Debrief submissions and share links: deleted or anonymised within 12 months of the debrief being completed, unless you ask us to delete them sooner.

Contact enquiries that do not lead to a booking: up to 2 years.

Forum accounts and posts: while your account is active. If you close your account we will delete your account details; we may keep your posts with your name removed so that discussions still make sense, unless you ask us to delete them.

Audit records: up to six years.

We only use storage that is strictly necessary to make the website work, such as keeping you signed in. We do not use advertising, analytics or tracking cookies, so we do not need to ask for your consent. If this changes, we will update this notice and ask for your consent first, as required by the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

Information is encrypted in transit and stored in a secured database with strict access rules, so only you (for your own account) and our authorised team can access it. We do not accept file uploads. No system is completely secure, but if a data breach affects your rights we will tell you and the ICO where required by law.

You have the right to: be informed; access a copy of your information; have it corrected; have it deleted; restrict or object to how we use it; receive it in a portable format; and withdraw consent where we rely on consent. Parents and guardians may exercise these rights on behalf of a child.

To use any of these rights, email helpdesk@captainthinking.com. We may need to confirm your identity. We will respond within one month and there is normally no charge.

If you are unhappy with how we have handled your information, please contact us first. You also have the right to complain to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) at ico.org.uk or on 0303 123 1113.

We will update this notice when our services or the law change, for example when we introduce online payments or paid forum membership. The date at the top shows when it was last updated. Where changes are significant we will let account holders know.