Version 2026-11-03. By creating an account or using this site (the "Site"), you agree to these Terms and to the Disclaimer & Release of Liability, which forms part of them. If you do not agree, do not use the Site.
1. Who we are
The Site is operated by SAAOPA — the Southern Africa Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association — a volunteer-run community association. Contact: admin@saaopa.org.
2. Your account
One SAAOPA account works across this Site and the WX Copilot app. You agree to provide accurate details, to keep your password confidential, and to be responsible for everything done under your account. Tell us promptly if you suspect unauthorised use. We may suspend or remove an account that breaches these Terms.
3. Acceptable use
You agree not to: use the Site unlawfully or for any unlawful purpose; harass, abuse, threaten or defame anyone; impersonate another person; upload malware; attempt to gain unauthorised access to the Site, its infrastructure or other accounts; scrape, bulk-download or resell content or data except as expressly permitted; or interfere with the Site's operation or availability.
4. Member content
You keep ownership of what you post (forum messages, images, station and camera data). By posting it you grant SAAOPA a non-exclusive, royalty-free licence to store, display and distribute it on the Site and its services for as long as is needed to operate them. If you delete your account, your forum posts stay so that discussions still make sense, but they are shown as written by a "Deleted member", with nothing that identifies you. You confirm you have the rights to post it. We may moderate, edit or remove content, or close discussions, at our discretion — particularly anything unlawful, unsafe or abusive.
5. Aviation information is not authoritative
Weather, imagery, AIP, Air Law, NOTAM and related content is provided for general information only and is not an official source. It must never be the sole or primary basis for any flight or operational decision. Always verify against the relevant civil aviation authority's official publications and briefings. See the Disclaimer & Release of Liability.
6. Contributions and third-party services
If you contribute a weather station or camera, you confirm you are entitled to share that data and you permit SAAOPA to publish it (including onward to services such as Windy). The Site links to and relies on third-party services; we are not responsible for their content, availability or practices.
7. Subscriptions and payments
Some services may be offered on a paid or subscription basis. Where they are, the price, billing period and any renewal terms will be shown before you subscribe. Fees are payable in advance and, except where the law requires otherwise, are non-refundable. You may cancel future renewals at any time; access continues to the end of the paid period.
8. Availability and changes
The Site is a volunteer-run, best-effort service, provided "as is" and "as available". We do not guarantee it will be uninterrupted, timely, accurate or error-free, and we may change, suspend or withdraw any part of it at any time.
9. Your information and how we use it
By creating an account you agree that SAAOPA and the WX Copilot application may use your information as follows. The full detail is in the Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.
- Your account: your email address and password (stored only in scrambled form), and optionally a cell number, display name, home country and Garmin inReach device name. Your home country is used to tailor the content you see. Verification codes are sent to your email or cell number.
- Weather requests and briefings: the messages you send us by email, WhatsApp or inReach and our replies, the routes and settings of the briefings you ask for, and the IP address and browser details of a briefing request, used to answer you, to apply daily limits and to prevent abuse.
- Who else handles it: Meta (WhatsApp) carries WhatsApp messages, Garmin carries inReach messages, our mail host carries email, and the service runs on a server in London, United Kingdom — so your information is stored outside your own country.
- Your picture: your profile picture, if any, is served by Gravatar based on a one-way hash of your email address — a third-party service; if you would rather not use it, simply don't create a Gravatar and an initials avatar is shown instead.
- Statistics: we keep counts of briefings and requests (when, which route or stations, and which channel) for our records. Once your account is deleted these counts no longer contain anything that identifies you.
We do not sell your personal information.
10. Deleting your account and your data
You can remove your data yourself at any time: sign in and choose Delete my account on your profile or on the WX Copilot Account page. Your account is suspended straight away and deleted after a 21-day cooling-off period; you can cancel at any time before then by signing in. When it is deleted we remove your account, contacts, messages and their records, and your name on forum posts. Weather stations and cameras you contributed stay on the network, managed by SAAOPA, under the licence you granted when you contributed them (section 6). Copies in our backups are removed as those backups expire, within 30 days. For help, or to see or correct what we hold about you, contact admin@saaopa.org — we reply within 30 days.
We may also suspend or terminate access where these Terms are breached, or where necessary to protect the Site, its members or the public.
11. Liability
Your use of the Site is entirely at your own risk, and liability is released and excluded to the maximum extent permitted by law, as set out in full in the Disclaimer & Release of Liability.
12. Changes to these Terms
We may update these Terms. The version in force is the one published here. If we make a material change we may ask you to accept the new version — your profile shows which version you accepted and when.
13. Governing law
These Terms are governed by the laws of Zimbabwe, and the courts of Zimbabwe have jurisdiction, without prejudice to any mandatory consumer protections available to you in your country of residence.
Questions about these Terms? Contact admin@saaopa.org.