These additional terms cover the paid First Catch program. Your accepted version is recorded with eligible uploads and payment receipts. Version: first-catch-2026-09-15.
Elements Technologies LLC (Tail) offers US$0.10 for each qualifying First Catch while the program is active. A First Catch adds an original, real photograph of a physical aircraft not already covered by an eligible photograph in our archive. We pay once per physical aircraft, even if its tail number changes. Multiple views of the same aircraft do not earn additional rewards.
Join the program and accept these terms before uploading. Paid aircraft must match trusted official registry evidence, including their tail number, aircraft type and serial identity. A plausible tail number or a search result alone does not qualify. Photographs outside paid eligibility remain welcome as unpaid contributions under the ordinary site terms. Paid eligibility covers civil aircraft, including general aviation aircraft, airliners and civilian-registered former military aircraft. Registration need not be active today: we may verify the photographed aircraft against supported current or historical official civil registry records. Retired or deregistered aircraft can qualify when their physical identity and photographed tail number are verified. Military or museum aircraft without that civil registry evidence do not qualify for payment under this offer. An aircraft whose identity we cannot verify does not earn a payable reward unless and until the required evidence is accepted and all other First Catch conditions are met. To qualify for payment, photos must clearly show the full aircraft and a readable tail number.
There is no shared reward-pool limit for this offer. We may pause or end new awards or change the offer prospectively, and will honor valid awards already earned. Changes do not reduce valid existing awards. Uploading an entire folder does not mean every photograph will be paid for; only qualifying First Catches earn the stated reward. Other uploads are optional, unpaid contributions. Earnings are subject to verification before payment, not an upfront payment for your archive.
Submit photographs you captured yourself and have authority to license. Do not submit copied portfolios, AI-generated aircraft photographs, deliberately altered tail numbers or misleading identification. Keep your originals; we may ask for source files, neighboring frames or proof that you control an established photographer profile. AI-assisted screening supports review and does not itself prove ownership or authenticity.
The earnings display records qualifying awards. Identity corrections, duplicates, ownership disputes or other verification issues may place an award or payout on hold. An invalid award can be corrected or removed, with the reason available through support. Contact [email protected] to resolve a hold or dispute.
Request a payout through the uploader to your verified PayPal receiving account. The normal threshold is US$10; a smaller final available balance can also be requested. Every payout requires our owner's explicit approval after verification. Payments are not automatically released on a weekly schedule. Saving payout details or requesting payment does not authorize an immediate transfer.
Tail pays the sending fee. PayPal eligibility and currency-conversion charges may apply, and you remain responsible for taxes applicable to your earnings. If a payment cannot be delivered, valid earnings remain recorded while we resolve the destination or payment issue. We never require you to pay an advance fee to receive a reward.
You retain copyright. Unpaid photographs stay under the ordinary contribution terms you accepted; this agreement does not add commercial sublicensing rights to them or replace an existing Creative Commons or other third-party license.
Paid Photos are the specific photographs identified in a successful payment receipt under this accepted agreement. The offer is US$0.10 per eligible First Catch. A separately priced portfolio or bundle must identify its covered photographs and price and be explicitly accepted. Payment of any agreed amount activates the additional license below only for the listed Paid Photos, when the payment provider confirms successful delivery to your receiving account. A balance, animation, failed or unclaimed transfer is not completed payment.
In return for the agreed payment, you grant Elements Technologies LLC and entities it controls or that are under common control a worldwide, nonexclusive license for the copyright term, subject to rights that applicable law does not allow you to waive. You may continue publishing and licensing your photographs elsewhere.
Tail may reproduce, store, display, publish, distribute, embed and create technical or editorial adaptations of Paid Photos for current and future Tail products and their promotion. These include TailPhotos, TailNews, TailExchange, TailShare, TailVideos, Tail ID and Tail data/API services, including commercial aircraft listings and paid products.
Tail may charge customers for access to Paid Photos through its products, subscriptions, licensed datasets and APIs. Tail may grant those customers nonexclusive permission to reproduce, display and incorporate the photographs into aviation-related editorial publications, aircraft listings, websites, apps and other agreed customer products. Customer terms must preserve the credit and use restrictions here and prohibit standalone stock-library resale, onward sublicensing and redistribution of a reusable photo collection.
Service providers may process Paid Photos only to deliver these authorized uses. No copyright ownership transfers to Tail or its customers, and no additional royalties are owed for uses within this grant.
Tail will retain your chosen photographer credit in photo records and API deliveries and require customer credit with public uses; small thumbnails may link to a credited photo page. Tail may resize, crop, normalize, annotate and combine images with layouts, without falsely attributing work or implying your endorsement.
This agreement adds no permission to train or fine-tune AI models or supply model-training datasets. Ordinary recognition, indexing and duplicate checks remain subject to the contribution and privacy terms. You grant only rights you control; this agreement does not supply third-party trademark, privacy, publicity or other permissions.
Removing a Paid Photo from your profile or closing your account does not itself revoke its paid license or valid customer permissions. Tail will handle rights complaints and pause new commercial distribution after a credible ownership dispute or payment reversal pending resolution. Nonwaivable legal rights remain unaffected.
Contact [email protected] about this program, an ownership concern, a payment request or an accessibility issue. These additional terms apply only to the accepted paid-photo offer; the site's ordinary Terms and Privacy Policy continue to apply.
