Privacy Policy

RC Club Connect is the mobile app of the Laurel Highlands Model Airplane Club (LHMAC), AMA Charter #557, based in Mt. Pleasant, Pennsylvania. The app and the club website at lhmac.org are operated by the club for its members. We are a volunteer-run flying club, not a commercial business.

This policy explains what personal information we hold, why we hold it, and how you can have it removed.

We only collect what the app needs in order to work:

• Your name and email address, so we can create your account, sign you in, and contact you about your membership.
• Membership details you choose to submit — postal address, phone numbers, date of birth, AMA number and emergency contact — if you fill in the club membership application. These are the same details the paper form asks for and are used only for club administration.
• Photos you upload. Photos are reviewed by a club admin before anyone else can see them, and are credited to the member who submitted them.
• Field check-ins. When you tap “I’m at the Field”, we record that you checked in and when. We do not record your GPS coordinates or track your location — only the fact that you chose to check in. Check-ins expire automatically at the end of the day.
• A device token if you turn on push notifications, so we can send alerts about field closures, events and club messages. You can turn each type of notification off in the app, or switch them off entirely in your phone’s settings.

We use this information to run the club: to let you sign in, to show who is at the field, to publish approved photos in the club gallery, to send the notifications you asked for, and to administer membership and dues.

We do not:

• sell or rent your information to anybody;
• use it for advertising, profiling or behavioural tracking;
• run third-party analytics or advertising trackers in the app;
• share it with other organisations for their own purposes.

Club data is held in the club’s own database on the server that runs lhmac.org. Passwords are never stored in readable form — they are hashed before they are saved.

We rely on a small number of service providers to keep the site running, and they only process data on our behalf:

• Our hosting provider, which runs the server the app and website talk to.
• Microsoft 365, which carries club email — including the message sent to you when your membership is approved.
• Apple, which delivers push notifications to iPhones. Apple receives only the notification and the device it is bound for.
• The National Weather Service, which supplies the flying forecast. No personal information is sent to them.

Account and membership records are kept for as long as you are a member, and for a reasonable period afterwards for club records. Photos stay in the gallery until an admin removes them or you ask us to. Check-ins are cleared automatically each evening, though an anonymous count is kept so the club can see how busy the field has been. Device tokens are deleted when you turn notifications off or remove the app.

You can, at any time:

• ask for a copy of the information we hold about you;
• ask us to correct anything that is wrong;
• ask us to delete your account and personal information. We will remove your account, your check-in history and your device tokens. Photos you submitted will also be removed on request;
• turn any category of notification off without affecting the rest of the app.

Email admin@lhmac.org and we will action deletion requests within 30 days.

RC Club Connect is not directed at children under 13, and we do not knowingly create accounts for them. Younger family members can be listed on a household membership application by a parent or guardian; those entries are club paperwork and no app account is created for them. If you believe a child under 13 has created an account, contact us and we will remove it.

If we change how we handle personal information we will update this page and revise the effective date above. Material changes will also be announced in the app.

Questions about this policy, or about the information we hold, go to admin@lhmac.org.

Laurel Highlands Model Airplane Club · AMA Charter #557 · Mt. Pleasant, PA