Flying and Radiation: Chernobyl of the Skies?

As I sit on the Tabuk airport in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, I count my blessing of the fortunate life I have had where I get to fly often, travel to different countries and meet people from different cultures and walks of life. I was always fascinated by the Soviet Union & how wild things were back in the 80’s; the cold war, the nuclear tests, the Berlin wall, Ronald Reagan, Indira Gandhi and most fascinating/infamous – The Chernobyl Disaster.

I have always been nervous but curious about nuclear energy, nuclear weapons and that led me straight to the most infamous category of ‘Nuclear Disasters’. I did my bit to understand the Three Mile Island, the Fukushima-Daichi incident, Chernobyl, Windscale?and a few more. However, while I started reading more on this and became relatively more aware about the cosmic ionizing radiation.

Cosmic Ionizing radiation is a form of energy that acts by removing electrons from atoms and molecules of materials that include air, water, and living tissue. Basically, crazy energy that fries your cells & DNA – that’s bad. Pretty bad.

During my recent travels (not many) I met a few pilots and some cabin crews. Most of my small talk with them consisted of me admiring the hardships of their job. Turns out, some of them have had their colleagues suffering from Skin cancer and some other forms of cancer. I am not a nuclear scientist, geneticist or a professional in the field of cancer, but it did not take me long to join the dots.

Background radiation from other stars, other big bangs, dying stars and our sun, travel billions of kilometers without any bathroom breaks to reach our planet to greet us but the magnetic field around the earth isn’t that welcoming and hence, they hardly reach us on the ground and measure between 0.06 Micro Sieverts and 0.20 Micro Sieverts an hour. It also depends on the material of the soil around you and some other not so common factors.

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On any given day, this scary radiation that I have been harping about hardly reaches us on the ground. The thick layer of air and the magnetic fields around the Earth protect us. However, where things get interesting is when we start flying & gaining altitude and reduce the thickness of this protective layer of air.

I took a Geiger counter with me during my flights to measure how much increase in radiation am I getting exposed to during these flights and how much radiation do these pilots & crew members get exposed to. Some of the results were unexpected, as you all know that I am no scientist. So, even the simplest of variations would surprise me. However, I got in touch with some experts and read a bunch of reports to understand this more in depth.

The radiation reading that my Geiger Counter measured was 12-15 times over and above the safe or the average radiation levels. As you can see in the image of my Geiger Counter, the reading difference in the ‘before’ and ‘after’.

As a caveat, this is an amateur Geiger Counter, so the readings in this device have an upper limit lower than most professional devices out there. I have a more sophisticated Geiger Counter as well but did not want to risk getting that confiscated.

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Pilots and aircrew are exposed to higher levels of cosmic radiation than the general population due to their occupation. This radiation can increase the risk of cancer and other health problems over time.

The International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP) has developed guidelines for exposure to ionizing radiation for aircrew, including air hostesses and pilots. These guidelines are based on the principle of keeping exposure to radiation as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA).

The ICRP recommends that aircrew should receive an annual dose limit of 20 millisieverts (mSv) per year averaged over a five-year period, with no single year exceeding 50 mSv.

So, here is some elementary math:

A single chest X-Ray gives you ~0.1 mSv of radiation and being a pilot or a crew member of an airlines gives you ~25 X-Rays annually.

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For an average person who travels somewhat often and takes ~7 trips a year (not taking consulting as an example), i.e., ~15 flights annually. The following dosage is what they receive:

A typical person would receive ~2.4mSv annually and a pilot or crew member would receive twice as much and a person who flies somewhat frequently receives ~10% more radiation than an average person. This doesn’t translate into higher rates of cancer, but the math simply points towards a higher probability of cancer.

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Similarly, getting a CT scan done under proper conditions helps you receive ~30% of your annual radiation in one single scan. The risk of developing radiation-induced cancer from a single CT scan is estimated to be ~1 in 2,000.

So, if you’re pilot who’s had a bad year and flew the regulated number of hours, had a couple of X-Ray and a single CT scan done in the full year would receive ~6mSv of radiation in that year which is ~2.5 times higher radiation than a typical person. For reference, a typical nuclear power technician receives annual radiation equivalent to ~2 chest X-Rays only. One could conclude, you’re safer in a nuclear power plant than you are being a pilot.

I might be wrong in a bunch of these assumptions and statistics, but I have tried to be as robust and as thorough as possible, so I don’t end up causing panic to my massive readership (Read: 10 people).

I will continue to work towards continuing my awareness and “research” to the best of my ability in this area and share any further insights & inferences I am able to draw from what I read, measure, and understand. A wise man once said, “Life Always Works Out, usually”.

Please note: These views are mine and do not represent the present firm I work for or any firm I have worked for in the past. I have not claimed to be formally educated in the matter.