First Catch terms

Effective October 6, 2026. Elements Technologies LLC (Tail) pays US$0.10 for each qualifying First Catch while this program is active. A First Catch is one original photograph you took of a real aircraft our archive does not already cover. We pay once per physical aircraft. There is no shared pool and no advance payment for an archive.

Accept these terms before you upload. The aircraft must match a trusted official civil registry, current or historical, by tail number, type, and serial. Civil aircraft qualify, including airliners and civilian-registered former military aircraft. Retired or deregistered aircraft can qualify when we verify them. Military or museum aircraft without that civil registry evidence do not. If we cannot verify an aircraft, it earns nothing unless the missing evidence is later accepted and every other condition is met.

Aim to include the entire aircraft; minor cropping is acceptable when about 80% remains visible and the aircraft can be clearly identified. The tail number still needs to be readable. About 80% is the share of the aircraft a viewer can see, not how much of the frame the aircraft fills. A close call is reviewed rather than automatically rejected. A close-up can stay unpaid and does not reserve the aircraft. Other uploads stay unpaid under the ordinary site terms.

We may pause or end new awards, or change future awards. A change does not reduce a valid award already earned. Reward eligibility and payment are subject to our review and sole discretion. We may decline a photograph that is unusable, submitted to work around this offer, or outside these terms. Review does not reduce a valid award already earned, and it does not erase a valid award already earned or a payment already delivered.

Send only photographs you took and can license. Do not send copies, AI-generated aircraft, altered tail numbers, or misleading identification. We may ask for the original or other proof. AI screening does not prove ownership. We may hold an award while we check, and an invalid award can be removed.

Request a payout in the uploader to your verified PayPal account. This pilot has no fixed minimum. Each request is reviewed before anything is sent. Payments are not sent automatically, including on a weekly schedule. A request does not send money. A later rule applies only after notice and does not reduce a valid award already earned. Any provider fee is shown separately. We charge no advance fee. You are responsible for your taxes. If a payment cannot be delivered, the valid earnings stay recorded.

You keep the copyright. The license is nonexclusive. You may still publish and license your photographs elsewhere. Unpaid photographs stay under the ordinary contribution terms. Payment for one photograph does not add paid rights to your other uploads and does not replace a Creative Commons or other third-party license.

The paid license attaches only to the photographs named on a successful payment receipt, and only after the payment provider confirms that the payment reached your account. Joining, a provisional credit, a payout request, an approval, a CSV export, a balance, an animation, or a failed or unknown payment does not attach it. The price is US$0.10 unless you accept a set that names a different price and its photographs.

For that payment, you grant Elements Technologies LLC, and entities it controls or that are under common control, a worldwide nonexclusive license for the copyright term. This does not waive a right the law does not let you waive. Tail may reproduce, store, display, publish, distribute, embed, and make technical or editorial adaptations. That covers display and these paid uses on all current and future Tail properties and products, and their promotion, including TailPhotos, TailNews, TailExchange, TailShare, TailVideos, Tail ID, and Tail data and API services.

Elements Technologies LLC may assign this agreement and that paid license only to a future Tail Group C corporation, or another successor, that owns or operates the Tail properties and assumes these contributor protections and any payment already earned. The successor steps into Tail's obligations. This is not a transfer of your copyright. It does not license an unrelated company, and it does not add a further grant of rights.

Tail may charge customers for access. Customers may reproduce, display, and incorporate the photographs into aviation editorial work, listings, websites, apps, and other agreed products. They must keep your credit and these limits, and must not resell a stock library, sublicense onward, or redistribute a reusable collection. Your credit stays in Tail's records and API. A thumbnail may link to a credited page. This agreement adds no permission to train or fine-tune AI models or to supply model-training datasets. Ordinary recognition and duplicate checks stay under the contribution and privacy terms.

You can delete your own photographs and close your own account on the site. A deleted photograph leaves public pages immediately and can be restored for 30 days. Cached copies may take up to 30 days to clear. Deletion does not erase a valid award already earned or a payment already delivered, and it does not revoke a paid license or a valid customer permission. A credible ownership dispute or a payment reversal pauses new commercial distribution until it is resolved.

For a hold, a payment question, a rights concern, or an accessibility issue, Contact Paul: https://tailphotos.com/contact. The ordinary Terms and Privacy Policy still apply.