Privacy Policy

Privacy Policy

AVCentral.ca — Canada’s Aviation Platform
Last Updated: March 2026
Effective Date: March 2026

Overview

AVCentral.ca (“AVCentral,” “we,” “us,” or “our”) operates a Canadian aviation platform at avcentral.ca, including a flight school directory, a Civil Aviation Medical Examiner (CAME) directory, and related aviation resources. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and protect your personal information.

We are committed to complying with the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) and, where applicable, Alberta’s Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA).

If you have questions about this policy, contact us at hello@avcentral.ca.

1. Who This Policy Applies To

This policy applies to:

  • Pilots and general visitors who browse AVCentral.ca or create a personal pilot account
  • Flight school representatives who claim or manage a school listing
  • Anyone who contacts us via email or through our website

This policy does not apply to Civil Aviation Medical Examiners (CAMEs) listed in our directory. CAME listings contain professional business information (name, clinic, location, phone, pricing) that is either publicly available or voluntarily provided. CAMEs with questions about their listing should contact us at hello@avcentral.ca.

2. Information We Collect

2a. Information You Provide Directly

Pilot accounts (/login/ and /join/):
– Name and email address
– Password (stored encrypted — we never see your plain-text password)
– Any profile information you choose to add

School owner accounts:
– Name, email address, and password
– School name and contact details
– Listing content you submit (about text, programs, fleet, photos, pricing)
– Billing information if you subscribe to a paid tier (processed by Stripe — we do not store card numbers)

Contact form and email:
– Name, email address, and the content of your message

Reviews (when the review system launches):
– Your rating and written review
– Your pilot account details (you must be logged in to leave a review)

2b. Information Collected Automatically

When you visit AVCentral.ca, we automatically collect:

  • IP address and approximate location (city/region level)
  • Browser type and device information
  • Pages visited, time on page, and navigation patterns
  • Search queries entered on our site (e.g., searching for a CAME or flight school)
  • Referring website (how you arrived at our site)

This information is collected via cookies, server logs, and analytics tools (see Section 6 — Cookies).

2c. Information We Do Not Collect

We do not collect:
– Your aviation medical certificate details or medical history
– Your pilot licence number or Transport Canada file number
– Payment card numbers (Stripe handles payment processing)
– Sensitive personal information beyond what is necessary to operate the platform

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

  • Operate the platform — display flight school and CAME listings, process account registrations, and respond to enquiries
  • Verify and maintain directory accuracy — our team may contact schools or CAMEs to verify listing information
  • Process payments — for flight school subscription tiers (via Stripe)
  • Send transactional emails — account confirmations, password resets, enquiry notifications
  • Send platform updates — if you opt in, we may send occasional updates about new features or content (you can unsubscribe at any time). For aviation job alerts specifically, see Section 14.
  • Improve the platform — analyse usage patterns to identify what works and what needs improvement
  • Prevent fraud and abuse — detect and address misuse of accounts or listings
  • Comply with legal obligations — respond to lawful requests from government authorities where required

We do not use your information for automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects.

4. CAME Directory Data

Our CAME directory contains professional information about Transport Canada-designated Civil Aviation Medical Examiners. This information includes:

  • Doctor name and clinic name
  • City, province, and address
  • Phone number and website
  • Categories performed (Cat 1, Cat 2, Cat 3)
  • Pricing (where verified by our team)
  • ECG availability
  • Whether they are accepting new patients
  • Approximate wait times

Sources: This information is sourced from Transport Canada’s public CAME registry and supplemented by direct verification calls made by our team. It is professional/business information, not personal health information.

Accuracy: We make reasonable efforts to keep this information current and accurate, but pricing, availability, and other details change. We do not guarantee accuracy. Pilots should always confirm details directly with the CAME before booking.

Removal requests: CAMEs who wish to have their listing removed or corrected may contact us at hello@avcentral.ca. We will process reasonable requests within 14 business days.

5. How We Share Your Information

We do not sell your personal information. We do not share your personal information with advertisers.

We may share information in the following limited circumstances:

Service providers: We use trusted third-party services to operate the platform, including:
– SiteGround — web hosting (servers located in the European Union and/or North America)
– Stripe — payment processing for school subscription tiers
– Google Analytics — anonymized website analytics
– Mapbox — map display for school and CAME locations

Each of these providers has their own privacy policies and data processing agreements. We only share the minimum information necessary for them to provide their services.

Legal requirements: We may disclose information if required by law, court order, or lawful request from a government authority, or where we believe disclosure is necessary to protect the safety of any person.

Business transfer: If AVCentral is acquired or merges with another entity, user information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We will notify users via email or prominent notice on the site before any such transfer occurs.

6. Cookies and Tracking

We use cookies and similar technologies to operate and improve AVCentral.ca.

Essential cookies: Required for the site to function — keeping you logged in, remembering your session, security tokens. These cannot be disabled without breaking core functionality.

Analytics cookies: We use Google Analytics to understand how visitors use the site. This data is anonymized and aggregated. You can opt out of Google Analytics tracking at tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

Functional cookies: Remember your preferences (e.g., list vs. map view on the CAME directory).

We do not use advertising cookies or third-party tracking pixels for ad targeting.

You can control cookies through your browser settings. Note that disabling cookies may affect site functionality.

7. Data Retention

We retain your personal information for as long as necessary to provide our services and comply with legal obligations:

  • Pilot accounts: Retained while your account is active. If you delete your account, your personal information is deleted within 30 days, except where retention is required by law.
  • School owner accounts: Retained while your listing is active. If you close your account, we retain billing records for 7 years as required by Canadian tax law.
  • Contact form submissions: Retained for 2 years.
  • Analytics data: Retained for 26 months (Google Analytics default).
  • Server logs: Retained for 90 days.

8. Your Rights

Under PIPEDA and applicable provincial privacy law, you have the right to:

  • Access your personal information that we hold
  • Correct inaccurate personal information
  • Withdraw consent to certain uses of your personal information
  • Request deletion of your personal information, subject to legal retention requirements
  • File a complaint with the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada if you believe we have mishandled your information

To exercise any of these rights, contact us at hello@avcentral.ca. We will respond within 30 days.

For complaints, you may also contact the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada at priv.gc.ca or 1-800-282-1376.

9. Data Security

We take reasonable technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information, including:

  • HTTPS encryption on all pages
  • Encrypted password storage (bcrypt hashing)
  • Access controls limiting who can access personal data
  • Regular security updates to our hosting and platform software

No method of internet transmission or electronic storage is 100% secure. While we strive to protect your information, we cannot guarantee absolute security.

If we become aware of a data breach that poses a real risk of significant harm, we will notify affected users and the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada as required by PIPEDA.

10. Children’s Privacy

AVCentral.ca is not directed at children under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected information from a child under 13 without parental consent, we will delete it promptly.

11. Links to Third-Party Sites

Our platform contains links to third-party websites, including Transport Canada, flight school websites, and CAME clinic websites. This Privacy Policy does not apply to those sites. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. When we make material changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page and, where appropriate, notify registered users by email.

Continued use of AVCentral.ca after changes are posted constitutes your acceptance of the updated policy.

13. Contact Us

For privacy-related questions, requests, or concerns:

AVCentral.ca
Email: hello@avcentral.ca
Website: avcentral.ca

For urgent privacy concerns, please include “PRIVACY” in your email subject line.

14. Email Alerts (Aviation Jobs)

If you opt in to job alerts on the Aviation Jobs page, AVCentral will:

  • Store your email address, profile filter preferences (profession, location, hours, licence type, and similar), and the date, time, IP address, and browser by which you provided consent.
  • Send you a daily email containing aviation job postings from across Canada that match your profile preferences.
  • Include an unsubscribe link in every email. Clicking it immediately stops further emails — no login required.

You can withdraw consent at any time via the unsubscribe link or from the Aviation Jobs Profile tab on AVCentral.ca. Your consent record will be retained for compliance with Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL), even after you unsubscribe.

AVCentral does not share your email address with employers or third parties. Job listings in alerts link to the original employer’s careers page; clicking them is not tracked back to you personally, only counted in aggregate site analytics.

15. User Accounts & Email Infrastructure

AVCentral.ca uses the UsersWP plugin to manage account registration, login, and password recovery. Account data (email address, name, password hash, role) is stored in the AVCentral.ca WordPress database hosted on SiteGround infrastructure.

Outgoing email — including account verification, password reset, and Aviation Jobs alerts — is sent through the AVCentral mail server (mail.avcentral.ca) using the WP Mail SMTP plugin. The sending address is support@avcentral.ca. Email delivery logs are retained for up to 30 days for troubleshooting.