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Draft: under legal review. Not yet in effect.

CaptainVoice Terms of Use

Last updated

Effective date: [Effective date]

These terms are an agreement between you and [Owner legal name] ("we", "us"). They cover the CaptainVoice app and the cloud service behind it (together, "the service"). If you use the service, you agree to these terms. If you do not agree, do not use it.

The service also includes the CaptainVoice website, https://captainvoice.com.

Our Privacy Policy (https://captainvoice.com/privacy) tells you what data we collect and what we do with it.

1. What the service does

The app records the aircraft intercom, GPS, altitude, motion and ADS-B data during a flight, and the room during a ground lesson. When you sign in, it uploads the recordings to your account. It can make a transcript. It can give your recordings to the North Aero training harness if you link your account to it.

The website tells you about the service and lets flight instructors sign up for the beta. Some of its features are not available yet. When you use them, you can see your recordings on the website, show a flight live to people you choose (Live View, Watchers and Share Links), see Flight Alerts, including Word Watch, which listens to a live flight for danger words, and keep a pilot Logbook with Instructor Signatures and Endorsements. Our Privacy Policy describes the data each feature uses.

2. Beta software

The service is in beta test.

  • It can have errors. It can stop working. It can lose or damage recordings.
  • We can change it, or remove a feature, at any time.
  • Each TestFlight build stops working after a time that Apple sets (90 days today). We can also end the beta, or your access to it, at any time.
  • Keep your own copy of anything that matters to you. Use the Share button to save a copy.

3. What the service is not

  • It is not a cockpit voice recorder or a flight data recorder. It is not certified, approved or tested to any FAA standard, for example 14 CFR 91.609 or Part 135. Do not use it to meet any rule that requires a recorder.
  • It is not for navigation. Do not use it for navigation, traffic avoidance or any guidance in flight. ADS-B traffic that the app records is for review after the flight only. The map on the website, in Live View and in a replay, is not for navigation or traffic avoidance either.
  • It is not a logbook or an official record. Times, tracks, transcripts and other facts that the service shows or produces are made by machine. They can be wrong or incomplete. Check them before you rely on them.
  • It does not replace your judgment. The pilot in command is always responsible for the flight. Never let the app take your attention from flying.
  • It is not an emergency service. When you use Live View, Flight Alerts and Word Watch can miss real events and raise false alarms. We do not call ATC, 911 or search and rescue, and we do not promise to alert anyone. If you think there is an emergency, call 911 or the ATC facility.
  • Instructor Signatures. When you use Instructor Signatures and Endorsements, they are electronic signatures built to follow FAA Advisory Circular 120-78B. The FAA has not approved them.

4. Safe use in the aircraft

  • Install the iPhone, cables and the USB-C adapter so they do not block or interfere with controls, instruments, radios or the intercom.
  • Follow the rules of the aircraft owner and of your flight school.
  • Set the app up before the flight. Do not handle it at critical times.

You must have the consent of every person you record, before you record them.

  • This includes everyone whose voice the app can pick up: students, instructors, other crew, passengers, and people in a ground lesson, in person or online.
  • The law on recording conversations is different in each state. Some states, for example California, require the consent of every person in the conversation. Others require the consent of one person. You must follow the law of every state where you record, and the law that protects the people you record.
  • Tell each person that the recording can upload to the cloud, that a transcript with speaker labels can be made by a service provider (AssemblyAI), and how long recordings are kept. Our Privacy Policy describes this.
  • When you use Live View, Watchers or Share Links, also tell each person that the people you choose can see the flight and hear its audio while it happens, and later as a replay if you share it. When you use Word Watch, also tell them that the audio goes to a speech service (AssemblyAI) during the flight, to find danger words.
  • If a person is a minor, get the consent that the law requires, for example from a parent or guardian.
  • If a person says no, or changes their mind, do not record them, or stop the recording.
  • Keep proof of consent where the law requires it.

The app shows the reminder "Get everyone's OK before recording". The app does not collect consent for you, and it does not check that you have it. You are responsible for it.

6. Your account

  • In the app, you need an account only to upload. You sign in with your email address and a code that we email to you.
  • When you use the website's signed-in pages, you sign in there with the same account. You also need an account to be a Watcher, to keep a Logbook or to sign as an Instructor.
  • Keep access to your email account secure. You are responsible for what happens in your account.
  • On a shared iPhone, the app asks before it uploads flights that were recorded while nobody was signed in. Say yes only if they are yours.
  • Give us a true email address that you can read.

7. Your recordings

  • You and the people you record keep the rights you have in your recordings.
  • You give us permission to store, copy, process and transcribe your recordings, and to make them available as these terms and our Privacy Policy describe, only to run and improve the service.
  • You confirm that you have the right to record and upload each recording.

8. Rules

Do not:

  • record anyone without the consent that the law requires
  • use the service against the law
  • upload a recording that you have no right to upload
  • try to change, fake or forge a recording, its proof of integrity or its verification result
  • copy, change or take apart the app, or try to get around its security
  • try to read data that is not yours
  • overload or harm the service

We can suspend or end your access if you break these rules.

9. What we do

  • We run the service with reasonable care. We cannot promise that it will always work.
  • We protect your data as our Privacy Policy describes.
  • We send a recording for transcription only when we release it.
  • We show a flight live only when you turn Live View on, and only to you, your Watchers and people with a valid Share Link.
  • We send the audio of a flight to a speech service while you fly only when you turn Word Watch on, and only to find danger words. We keep the words it finds, not a transcript.
  • We do not sell your data, and we do not use it for advertising.
  • We delete data when you ask, as our Privacy Policy describes.
  • We tell you about important changes to these terms before they apply.

10. Feedback

If you send us ideas, reports or suggestions, we can use them freely, with no duty to you.

11. Ending

You can stop using the service at any time. To delete your account or recordings, see our Privacy Policy. We can end the beta, or your access, at any time. Sections 3, 5, 7, 10, 12, 13, 14 and 15 continue after the end.

12. No warranty

The service is given "as is" and "as available". To the extent the law allows, we make no promise that it is fit for any purpose, will work without errors, or will keep your recordings.

13. Limit of liability

Not written yet. To fill: [Liability cap amount].

14. Your responsibility to us

Not written yet.

15. Law and disputes

Not written yet. To fill: [State of governing law].

16. Apple

Not written yet.

17. Changes

We may change these terms. We will change the effective date at the top. If a change is important, we will tell you in the app, by email, or in the TestFlight notes before it applies. If you keep using the service after that, you accept the new terms.

18. Contact

[Owner legal name]
[email protected]
https://captainvoice.com