Privacy

This page covers the website at flyingclub.mit.edu and the MIT Flying Club iPhone app. They share one backend, so the same answers apply to both.

If you just read the site or the app

We do not use cookies, tracking pixels, advertising, or any third party analytics service. We count page views ourselves: one counter per page per day, with no identifier attached, no IP address stored, and nothing linking one visit to another. If your browser sends Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control, we do not count you at all. The app counts screen views the same way.

The app downloads the club’s text and pictures from this website and keeps a copy on your phone so it works offline. That copy is yours. Delete the app and it is gone.

Where the site shows one of our Instagram posts, nothing is loaded from Instagram. We copy the picture and the caption onto our own site by hand, so viewing that card tells Instagram nothing about you and sets no cookie. The links to Instagram are ordinary links: they only involve Instagram once you choose to click one, and from then on their policies apply, not ours.

If you send a form

The equipment reservation and sponsorship forms ask for your name, your email address, and what you want. We store the request so an officer can act on it and reply. We also keep a one way hash of your network address to stop automated abuse; the address itself is never written down. The reservation calendar shown publicly lists only the item and the dates, never who asked.

If you create a member account

We never see or store your password. Signing in happens on a dedicated sign-in page, and the club only ever receives confirmation that it worked. Creating an account stores your email address and a random account id, nothing else.

You can then choose to add a display name, a home airport and a photo, and tick off stages of your training. There is no member directory and no mentor list, so your name is not shown to other members anywhere.

A photo you upload is stored on our website and is visible to anyone who has its address, so please treat it as public. The file name is a random id, so it cannot be found by guessing.

If you submit a first solo or a checkride for the Hall of Fame, nothing is published until you have ticked the consent box and an officer has confirmed it. Ask and we will take it down.

If you sign up for a flyout we also store what you tell us on that form. For a passenger that includes a weight, because the pilot needs it to work out weight and balance, which is a safety calculation. That figure is shown only to you and to club officers. The public summary on the flyouts page is counts only: how many pilots, how many passengers, how many seats. It carries no names, no weights and no contact details.

If you turn on notifications in the app

The app stores a push token on our server so we can tell you about club events. The token is not linked to your account unless you are signed in and choose to sync your settings. Turn notifications off in iOS Settings and the token is removed on the next launch.

Calendar and Maps

“Add to Calendar” writes an event to the calendar you pick, on your phone only. “Directions” opens Apple Maps. Neither sends anything to us.

Where it lives and who can see it

Everything above is stored on servers in the United States, in an account controlled by the club’s officers. Only current officers can read requests and member records. We do not share anything with anyone outside the club, except that gifts to the club go through MIT, whose own policies then apply. If you need the specifics for a compliance or records question, email flying-exec@mit.edu and we will answer you directly.

Your choices

• Email flying-exec@mit.edu to see, correct or delete anything we hold about you. We will do it within a week.
• Delete your account yourself, from your profile on the website or from Settings in the app. That removes your profile, your progress and your photo immediately. Equipment requests and Hall of Fame entries an officer already acted on stay as club records, with your name and email removed from them.
• Withdraw from a flyout at any time from the flyouts page, which deletes everything you entered on that form.
• Turn on Do Not Track in your browser and we will not count your visits.

Changes

If this page changes in a way that matters, we will say so here with the date. Last updated 18 September 2026.

MIT Flying Club, MIT Building 33, 125 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139. flying-exec@mit.edu
For MIT’s accessibility resources see accessibility.mit.edu.