Terms and conditions governing your use of skyelink.org and Skye Link's drone data services.
Skye Link, Inc., a North Carolina corporation, and its affiliate Skye Link Drones LLC (together, “Skye Link,” “we,” “us”) operate a managed drone data services business at 520 Elliot Street, Suite 500, Charlotte, North Carolina 28202. Unless a Client Agreement or Contractor Agreement names a different Skye Link entity, Skye Link, Inc. is the party to these Terms.
We capture and process aerial data for commercial field operations, including solar thermography, drone LiDAR mapping, utility and wind inspection imagery, aerial mapping data for engineering and construction (with survey deliverables reviewed and stamped by state-licensed professional land surveyors, as described in Section 11.1), rooftop modeling, progress documentation, and related consulting and training (the “Services”).
Skye Link performs the Services itself. We are not a marketplace. When an independent contractor pilot flies an order, that pilot works for Skye Link under a contract with Skye Link, not for the client.
2.1 The Platform. The “Platform” means the websites and applications at skyelink.org and skyelinkdrones.com and their subdomains (including app.skyelink.org, pilot.skyelink.org and client.skyelink.org), the portals at those addresses (including the pilot portal and client portal), and the email, text and in-app notifications they send. Third-party service providers help us build, host and operate the Platform.
2.2 Who these Terms cover. These Terms apply to everyone who visits a website or logs into the Platform (“you”). Section 6 adds terms for pilots. Section 7 adds terms for clients.
2.3 Other agreements. Each engagement is also governed by a separate written agreement:for clients, the master services agreement, statement of work, proposal, quote, work order or purchase order for that work (a “Client Agreement”); andfor pilots, the independent contractor agreement signed with Skye Link and any signed amendment (a “Contractor Agreement”).
2.4 Order of precedence. If these Terms conflict with a Client Agreement or Contractor Agreement, that agreement controls for the matter it covers. Among the documents that make up a Client Agreement, this order applies: (1) a master services agreement signed by Skye Link; (2) a statement of work, proposal, quote or work order signed or accepted by both parties; (3) the purchase order’s commercial details (quantity, price, schedule, PO number). Preprinted or linked terms on a purchase order, vendor portal or invoice-processing system do not apply and are rejected unless an authorized Skye Link officer signs them.
3.1 Eligibility. You must be at least 18 and able to form a binding contract. If you use the Platform for a company, you confirm you are authorized to bind it. “You” then includes that company.
3.2 Account types.Admin accounts are issued only to Skye Link personnel and contractors Skye Link authorizes. Admin access is limited to what each person’s role requires.Client accounts are invite-only. Each is tied to one client company (a “Client Company”). The Client Company is responsible for its users and for asking us to add or remove them. A user who leaves the Client Company loses access when we are told or when we learn of it.Pilot accounts are created by invitation or application and stay limited until we verify the documents in Section 6.3. A pilot account is personal to the individual pilot, even if the pilot is paid through a business entity (Section 6.7(a)).
3.3 Your credentials. One person per login. Keep your password private, use any multi-factor authentication we offer, and tell us promptly at support@skyelink.org if you suspect unauthorized use. You are responsible for activity under your account until you notify us.
3.4 Accurate information. Keep your profile, company, contact, tax and payment details current. Pilots must also keep compliance documents current (Section 6.3).
4.1 Required checkbox. You must check a box accepting these Terms before you can use the Platform. When we publish a new version, you must accept it at your next login before you can continue.
4.2 Electronic acceptance. Checking the box is your electronic signature and has the same effect as a handwritten signature under the federal E-SIGN Act and the North Carolina Uniform Electronic Transactions Act. We record the version you accepted, the date and time, and your account.
4.3 Website visitors. If you browse a public website without logging in, Sections 1, 2, 4.4, 5, 8.1, 8.4 through 8.6, 9, 11 through 13 and 15 through 20 apply to your use of the website.
4.4 Inquiries and applications. Submitting a quote request, contact form or pilot network application does not create a contract or any obligation to provide Services or offer work. A client engagement begins only when both parties agree to a Client Agreement. A pilot may accept orders only after signing a Contractor Agreement and completing verification under Section 6.3. Give accurate information in any inquiry, including site locations, access details and known hazards.
You may use the Platform only for its intended purposes: requesting, performing, managing and receiving Skye Link Services. You agree not to:
We may monitor Platform use for security and compliance, and may remove content or suspend access that violates this Section.
6.1 Your Contractor Agreement. You perform orders under your Contractor Agreement with Skye Link. This Section explains how that work runs on the Platform. Where your Contractor Agreement is stricter or more specific (for example on confidentiality, ownership, restrictive covenants or data delivery), it controls.
Sections 6.4(b), 6.6 and 6.7(b)–(c) describe the process in your Contractor Agreement's 'Payment Statements and Invoicing' clause. Until your Contractor Agreement includes that clause, budget confirmation, invoicing and payment timing follow your Contractor Agreement as written, and we will still give you a payout statement for each completed order as a record.
6.2 Independent Contractor Status. You are an independent contractor, not an employee, partner or agent of Skye Link. You decide how to perform each order, consistent with the order’s specifications, FAA rules and site safety requirements. You supply your own aircraft, sensors, equipment, insurance and transportation unless an order says otherwise. You have no authority to bind Skye Link or its clients. Nothing in these Terms, the Platform’s workflow or its notifications makes you an employee.
6.3 Required Documents and Clearances. Before you can accept orders, you must upload, and keep current:
A document counts only after a Skye Link administrator verifies it. The Platform tracks expiration dates and sends reminders before a document expires. If a required document expires or lapses, you cannot accept new orders, and we may reassign orders you have accepted, until a current document is verified.
Tell us within 2 business days if your certificate is suspended or revoked, your insurance is cancelled or reduced, an aircraft registration lapses, or anything changes that would affect a background check an order relies on. Report any accident, incident, fly-away or property damage on a Skye Link order to us within 24 hours, in addition to any report the FAA requires of you.
6.4 Orders.
(a) Offers. We offer orders through the pilot portal. Each offer shows the site, scope, date window, data specifications, any client-specific requirements, and the pilot budget. We are not required to offer you any minimum volume, and you are free to decline any offer.
(b) Acceptance. When you accept an order in the pilot portal, you commit to perform it to its specifications, and the pilot budget shown becomes the agreed compensation for that order. Your acceptance in the portal is the written confirmation of compensation.
(c) Performance. Complete the flight reporting your Contractor Agreement requires, upload data through the pilot portal within 24 hours of the flight (or sooner if the order says so), and submit the order's data in the pilot portal.
6.5 Cancellation, Rescheduling and Removal.
(a) By you. You may cancel an accepted order through the pilot portal at least 48 hours before the scheduled flight window. A later cancellation or a no-show lets us reassign the order, and repeated late cancellations may affect future offers.
(b) Safety. As remote pilot in command, you may stand down at any time for weather, airspace, equipment or safety reasons, without penalty. Tell us promptly so the order can be rescheduled.
(c) By Skye Link. We may cancel or reschedule an order at any time, including at a client’s request. If you had already mobilized to the site and the cancellation or lack of site access was not your fault, we record a mobilization adjustment on the order under Section 6.6(c), in the amount stated on the order or agreed with us in writing.
(d) Removal from a project. We may remove you from an order or project on notice if the client or prime contractor requires it, or if removal is needed to comply with flow-down requirements, safety or project constraints. Removal is not a breach. You are paid for work performed before removal, plus any adjustment under (c) that applies.
6.6 Payout Statements (the Statement Is the Invoice).
This Section and Sections 6.7(b)–(c) apply to pilots whose Contractor Agreement includes the "Payment Statements and Invoicing" clause. For all other pilots, Section 6.1 applies: your payout statement is a record, and invoicing and payment timing follow your Contractor Agreement.
(a) Statements. For each completed order, Skye Link generates a payout statement from the Platform record. It shows the order code (ORD number), site, service date, agreed pilot budget, any recorded adjustments, the total payable and the expected payment date. We issue it within 5 business days after the order is complete, meaning we have confirmed your data was received and meets the order's specifications. Issuing your statement does not depend on our invoicing of, or payment by, the client.
(b) No separate invoice. The payout statement is your invoice for payment and tax purposes. You do not need to submit a separate invoice, and payment does not depend on one. If you send an invoice for the same order, we treat it as a duplicate and do not pay it twice. If it shows a different amount and arrives within the dispute window, we treat it as a dispute under (d).
(c) Adjustments. Adjustments include mobilization when we cancel after you have mobilized or when you cannot access the site, in each case through no fault of yours; a re-flight Skye Link requests for reasons that are not your fault; rush fees; and expenses we pre-approved in writing, with receipts uploaded through the pilot portal before you submit the order's data. Raise any adjustment with us before you submit the order's data. An adjustment approved after the statement issues is paid on a supplemental statement for the same order. Re-collection of data you failed to capture is at no added cost, as your Contractor Agreement provides.
(d) Disputes. If you disagree with a statement, notify us at accounting@skyelink.org within 14 calendar days after we send it to you, and say what you believe is wrong. We will respond within 10 business days. We pay the undisputed portion on schedule. A statement you do not dispute within 14 days after we send it is deemed accepted.
(e) Error correction. Deemed acceptance does not stop either of us from correcting a clear calculation or data-entry error found within 12 months after the statement. We may offset an overpayment against future payouts after giving you written notice.
6.7 Payment and Taxes.
(a) How and whom we pay. We pay through Skye Link’s payment system, currently Bill.com, to the payment details you set up there. The payee must be the person or business entity named on your W-9, and it must match your vendor record in our payment system. If an order or your Contractor Agreement requires payment to you as an individual, we pay you individually. Keep your details current; we are not responsible for delays caused by incorrect details.
(b) When. Payment is due 30 days after the payout statement’s date, unless your Contractor Agreement or the order states a different schedule.
(c) Conditions. Payment requires a valid W-9 on file, the reporting and data upload in Section 6.4(c), and your completed payee setup in the payment system. We may hold payment until a valid W-9 is received and payee setup is complete, and no interest or penalty accrues during the hold.
(d) Taxes. You are responsible for all of your own taxes, including income and self-employment taxes. We do not withhold taxes, except backup withholding the IRS requires. We report payments on IRS Form 1099 as required.
6.8 Site Conduct. On site, you represent Skye Link. You agree to:
6.9 Client Relationships and Non-Circumvention. Clients you meet through Skye Link are Skye Link’s clients. You agree not to solicit, quote or accept drone or data work directly from any client (or its affiliates or site owners) that you were introduced to through the Platform, and to refer any such inquiry to us. This applies while you hold a pilot account and for the period stated in your Contractor Agreement, or 12 months after your last order for that client if no Contractor Agreement period applies. It does not apply to a client you already worked with before your first Skye Link order for them, if you told us in writing before accepting that order.
6.10 Flight Data. Data you capture on a Skye Link order belongs to Skye Link, as your Contractor Agreement provides. Upload it only through the Platform or a method we approve. Keep a backup for 30 days after the flight, then delete it when we ask. Do not use it for any other purpose, including your own portfolio, without our written permission.
This Section applies only to client accounts.
7.1 Your Client Agreement Governs the Work. Scope, deliverables, pricing, schedule, payment terms, warranties and liability for each engagement are set by your Client Agreement, read in the order in Section 2.4. These Terms govern your use of the Platform and fill gaps your Client Agreement does not address.
7.2 Your Company’s Users. Client accounts are created only by Skye Link invitation, at the Client Company’s request. The Client Company is responsible for who it asks us to invite, for its users’ actions on the Platform, and for telling us promptly when a user should lose access.
7.3 Orders and Site Information. Give us accurate site locations, access instructions, contacts, and known hazards (overhead lines, restricted airspace, wildlife, security or structural concerns). Tell us in advance about any background check, badging, training or other site requirement our personnel must meet. Confirm that Skye Link and its personnel are authorized to enter the site and fly over it, unless your Client Agreement makes that our responsibility. Delays or extra trips caused by inaccurate information or denied access may be billed as your Client Agreement allows.
7.4 Deliverables. We deliver data and reports through the client portal or another method agreed for the order, and notify your designated users when they are ready.
7.5 Acceptance Window. Review each delivery within 10 business days after we notify you it is ready. If a deliverable does not meet the order’s specifications, tell us in that window and describe the problem. We will correct it, which may include re-processing or re-flying, as your Client Agreement provides. A delivery you do not reject in writing within that window is deemed accepted. Your Client Agreement controls if it sets a different window or remedy.
7.6 Invoicing, Payment and Taxes. Skye Link invoices you from its accounting system on the schedule and terms in your Client Agreement. If your Client Agreement states no payment terms, invoices are due 30 days after the invoice date. Fees exclude sales, use, value-added and similar taxes, which you pay where they apply, other than taxes on Skye Link’s income. If an undisputed invoice is overdue, we may pause new orders after giving you written notice. Deliverables already paid for remain available.
7.7 Pilot Identities and Non-Solicitation. Skye Link chooses and assigns the personnel who perform your orders. Any public pilot directory or coverage map we publish shows only what each pilot has agreed to make public. Pilot contact details and order assignments are Skye Link confidential information. We share them only as needed for site access and safety, and you will use them only for that purpose. While you have an active account and for 12 months after your last order, you will not engage any pilot you were introduced to through Skye Link to provide drone or data services to you directly, other than through Skye Link.
7.8 Portal Availability of Deliverables. Deliverables remain downloadable in the client portal for 12 months after delivery. Download and keep your own copies; the Platform is not an archive.
7.9 Your Materials. You grant Skye Link a license to use site plans, drawings, prior data and other materials you give us, solely to perform and support your orders. You confirm you have the right to share them.
7.10 Confidentiality of Client Information. Unless your Client Agreement sets different terms, Skye Link will keep your non-public site information, materials and deliverables confidential. We use them only to perform and support your orders, and share them only with personnel and service providers who need them for that purpose and are bound to confidentiality. Tell us in writing if any information is subject to special handling rules, such as critical energy or electric infrastructure information; we will apply the handling your Client Agreement requires. This Section does not cover information that is public, already known to us, independently developed, or that we must disclose by law (after notice to you where the law allows).
8.1 The Platform. Skye Link and its licensors own the Platform and websites, including software, text, graphics, logos, templates and workflows. We grant you a limited, revocable, non-transferable right to use them for the purposes in Section 5. All other rights are reserved.
8.2 Client deliverables. Ownership and use of deliverables are governed by your Client Agreement. If it is silent, then once the order is paid in full, Skye Link grants the Client Company a non-exclusive, perpetual, royalty-free license to use, copy and modify the deliverables for its internal business purposes, and to share them with its contractors, consultants, lenders, insurers and regulators working on the same asset. Skye Link keeps ownership of raw flight data, processing methods, templates and tools. We may use deliverables in de-identified or aggregated form to improve our Services. We will not use them in marketing that identifies you or your site without your consent.
8.3 Pilot work product. All data, imagery and work product a pilot creates on a Skye Link order belong to Skye Link, as the pilot’s Contractor Agreement provides.
8.4 Feedback. We may use suggestions you give us about the Platform or Services without obligation to you.
8.5 Submitted content. If you submit testimonials, reviews, comments or similar content through a website or the Platform, you confirm you have the right to do so and grant Skye Link a non-exclusive, royalty-free license to use, reproduce and display it in connection with the Platform and our Services. We will not publish your name or company with a testimonial without your permission. We may remove submitted content at our discretion.
8.6 Copyright notices. If you believe content on a website or the Platform infringes your copyright, send a notice to our designated agent at contact@skyelink.org or the address in Section 20. Include the work you believe is infringed, where the material appears, your contact details, a statement of good-faith belief, and a statement under penalty of perjury that your notice is accurate and that you are authorized to act. We respond to valid notices as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act provides, and may disable access to repeat infringers.
9.1 What we store. Depending on your role, the Platform stores:
9.2 How we use it. To run the Platform, verify pilot eligibility, schedule and perform orders, deliver data, pay pilots, invoice clients, meet tax and legal obligations, secure the Platform, and improve our Services.
9.3 Who we share it with. We do not sell personal information. We share it only with: service providers who build, host and operate the Platform or handle payments, accounting, CRM, email, messaging, notifications, transcription and AI-assisted processing for us, under confidentiality obligations; clients, for deliverables and the limited pilot details in Section 7.7; pilots, for the site and order details they need; clients’ prime contractors, when a project requires it; authorities when law requires; and a successor in a merger, reorganization or sale of the business.
9.4 Automated and AI-assisted processing. We use software, including AI tools from our service providers, to help run operations: for example, to sort and summarize emails and meeting notes, check documents, prepare draft invoices and payout statements, and flag issues for review. People at Skye Link review and approve decisions about payment, invoicing, document approval and account access. We do not allow our service providers to use client data, deliverables or pilot records to train their general AI models.
9.5 Payment details. Pilots enter bank details directly in our payment provider’s system (currently Bill.com). The Platform does not store full bank account numbers. Taxpayer IDs from W-9s are stored with restricted access.
9.6 Retention. We keep data while your account is active and afterward as long as needed for tax, accounting, legal and contract purposes, including tax-record periods the IRS requires.
9.7 Security. We use reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards. No system is perfectly secure. If a security breach affects your personal information, we will notify you as North Carolina and other applicable law requires.
9.8 People and property in imagery. Aerial data can incidentally capture people, vehicles and neighboring property. We and our pilots capture only what an order requires, avoid recording people where we can, and limit access to flight data to those who need it for the order.
9.9 Privacy Policy. Our Privacy Policy at skyelink.org/privacy-policy gives more detail and is part of these Terms. It covers the websites and the Platform, including the portals and the communications described in Section 10. Privacy requests go to our privacy contact listed in Section 20.
10.1 Electronic communications. You agree to receive notices, statements, invoices and agreements electronically, by email or in the Platform. They satisfy any requirement that they be in writing.
10.2 Required notifications. Some notifications cannot be turned off while your account is active: security and login alerts, order offers and changes, document-expiration reminders, payout statements, delivery notices, invoices, and notices of changes to these Terms.
10.3 Adjusting notifications. You can change which optional notifications you receive, and how, in your account’s notification settings. Marketing emails include an unsubscribe link.
10.4 Text messages. We send texts only if you opt in. Frequency varies; message and data rates may apply. Reply STOP to opt out or HELP for help. We do not share your mobile number or text opt-in consent with third parties for their marketing; service providers that deliver our texts receive them only to do so.
10.5 Calls and meetings. We may record or transcribe calls and video meetings with you to keep accurate records, follow up on what was agreed, and train our staff. We will tell you at the start when we do, and you may ask us not to record.
11.1 Data capture and licensed surveying. Skye Link’s Services are data capture and data processing. When an order calls for survey deliverables, or mapping data that must be certified, Skye Link uses professional land surveyors (PLS) licensed in the state where the site is located to review and stamp them, as stated in your Client Agreement. A deliverable that does not bear a licensed PLS stamp is not a survey and must not be relied on as one. Unless your Client Agreement expressly says a licensed professional will seal the work, Skye Link does not provide professional engineering or certified inspection services, and no unsealed deliverable is an engineering opinion or code-compliance certification. Accuracy is limited to what the order specifies. Thermal and visual anomalies are indicators that need field verification. Design, safety, compliance, warranty and financial decisions remain with you and your licensed professionals.
11.2 Conditions. Flights depend on weather, airspace authorizations, site access and safety. Delays or cancellations for those reasons are not a breach.
11.3 Consulting and training. Consulting and training help you make your own decisions. They do not certify you or your personnel to operate aircraft, and you remain responsible for your own regulatory compliance and operations.
11.4 Platform provided as is. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS, THE PLATFORM AND WEBSITES ARE PROVIDED “AS IS” AND “AS AVAILABLE,” AND SKYE LINK DISCLAIMS ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. This does not limit any warranty in a signed Client Agreement.
TO THE FULLEST EXTENT THE LAW ALLOWS:
(a) SKYE LINK IS NOT LIABLE FOR INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, EXEMPLARY OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR LOST PROFITS, REVENUE, PRODUCTION OR DATA, ARISING FROM THE PLATFORM, THE SERVICES OR THESE TERMS.
(b) SKYE LINK’S TOTAL LIABILITY ARISING FROM THESE TERMS OR THE PLATFORM IS LIMITED TO THE GREATER OF $100 OR, FOR A CLIENT, THE FEES PAID FOR THE ORDER THAT GAVE RISE TO THE CLAIM.
(c) Liability for performing an order is governed by the Client Agreement or Contractor Agreement where it addresses liability. Nothing in this Section limits liability for fraud, willful misconduct or anything the law does not allow to be limited.
You will defend, indemnify and hold harmless Skye Link and its affiliates, officers, employees and contractors from third-party claims, losses and reasonable attorneys’ fees arising from your breach of these Terms, your misuse of the Platform, your violation of law or third-party rights, or (for clients) materials you provide and site-access authorizations you confirm. Pilots’ indemnity for flight operations is governed by their Contractor Agreement.
14.1 By you. You may close your account by emailing us. Pilots must also follow the termination notice in their Contractor Agreement.
14.2 By Skye Link. We may suspend access immediately for a security risk, breach of these Terms, a lapsed pilot document, an overdue undisputed invoice, a client or prime-contractor removal under Section 6.5(d), or a legal requirement. We may close an account on written notice.
14.3 Effect. Closing an account does not cancel what is already owed. Pilots are paid for completed orders, and we may reassign open ones. Clients pay for work performed and may download paid deliverables for 30 days after closure. These survive: the incident-reporting duty in 6.3 for orders already flown, 6.6, 6.7, the no-posting duty in 6.8, 6.9, 6.10, 7.6, 7.7, 7.9, 7.10, 8, 9, and 11 through 19.
North Carolina law governs these Terms, without regard to conflict-of-laws rules. Disputes must be brought only in the state or federal courts located in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, and you consent to their jurisdiction. If a Client Agreement or Contractor Agreement requires arbitration or another forum for a dispute it covers, that requirement controls.
We may update these Terms. For a material change, we will post the new version and notify you by email and in the Platform at least 15 days before it takes effect. Changes needed for legal or security reasons may take effect sooner. After a new version takes effect, you must accept it at your next login to keep using the Platform. If you do not accept, you may not use the Platform, but obligations already incurred remain. A change never alters the pilot budget or fees agreed for an order already accepted, and never amends a signed Client Agreement or Contractor Agreement.
The Platform relies on, and links to, services we do not control, such as payment, accounting, mapping, flight-planning and file-delivery providers. Their terms govern your use of them, and we are not responsible for their content or practices.
These Terms, the Privacy Policy and any applicable Client Agreement or Contractor Agreement are the entire agreement about the Platform. If a provision is unenforceable, it is limited to the minimum extent needed and the rest stays in effect. Not enforcing a provision is not a waiver. You may not assign these Terms without our consent; we may assign them to an affiliate or a successor. Neither party is liable for delay caused by events beyond its reasonable control.
We send notices to the email on your account or through the Platform. Send notices to us at the contacts in Section 20; legal notices also go by mail to the address there.
Skye Link, Inc., 520 Elliot Street, Suite 500, Charlotte, NC 28202
Your operating partner for managed drone data solutions, serving solar, utility, construction, engineering and commercial real estate teams nationwide.Visit skyelink.org
520 Elliot St, Suite 500, Charlotte, NC 28202
(704) 594-5177
contact@skyelink.org
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