Privacy Policy

Effective: October 31, 2026

This policy covers grndcntrl.net and the services we run, including our flight tracking network TheAirTraffic (theairtraffic.com), which follows the same privacy policy.

Two kinds of data

We handle two very different kinds of data, and treat them differently:

  • Aircraft data is public. It comes from signals aircraft broadcast and from public records. We publish it openly, including the link between an aircraft's transponder address and its registration. It is not anonymous.
  • Information about people who use our services is private. That means visitors, API users and feeders (people who run receivers that send data to TheAirTraffic). We don't publish who feeds us, where their receivers are exactly, or which receiver picked up a given aircraft.

Aircraft data

Our aircraft information comes from public broadcasts and public records:

  • ADS-B, Mode S and UAT: aircraft broadcast their position, altitude, speed, identity and transponder (ICAO 24-bit) address in the clear, for anyone with a receiver to hear. TheAirTraffic's network of independent receivers collects these broadcasts and calculates further positions with multilateration (MLAT).
  • Public records: aircraft registries such as the FAA's, which link a transponder address to a registration, aircraft type and registered owner or operator.
  • ATC audio: radio communications between controllers and pilots, where publicly available.
  • ACARS: datalink messages between aircraft and ground stations, as received by our network.

We show this data live, keep it as history and use it in our reporting.

We do not accept requests to block, hide or anonymize aircraft, including requests based on the FAA's LADD or PIA programs. Our data stays unfiltered.

Feeders

When you feed data to TheAirTraffic, we receive your receiver's IP address and UUID (its unique identifier), a receiver name if you set one, the location you set, and the aircraft data your receiver picks up with timing information for MLAT.

Public: the feeder map shows each receiver's UUID and the name you set, at a generalized location adjusted for privacy, never the exact spot.

Private: your IP address, your exact location (used only for MLAT) and which aircraft your receiver picked up.

The aircraft data you send becomes part of the public aircraft data described above. Feeding is anonymous for you; it doesn't make the aircraft anonymous.

Visitors and API users

  • Server logs: your IP address, the pages or endpoints you request and your browser's user agent, kept for less than 30 days for security and operations.
  • Browser storage: cookies and local storage for site features and preferences.
  • API keys: if you have an API key, we log its usage to apply rate limits and prevent abuse.

Sharing and security

We don't sell or rent information about our visitors, API users or feeders. We share aircraft data publicly and through our API. We may disclose information about people if the law requires it.

We protect the information we hold with reasonable security measures, but no system is completely secure. Links to other sites are covered by those sites' own policies.

Changes

We may update this policy. Changes appear on this page with a new effective date.

Contact

Questions about this policy: [email protected]. See also our Terms of Service.