Originally Posted by
BeardedFlyer
Thanks for the info 008. What kind of precautions do they take exactly? If it was harmful to the pilot I would think it wouldn't show up right away but 10 or so years down the road in some form of cancer wouldn't it? And by then it would be hard to say what exactly caused it.
I wold have no problem hauling bull jiz, dolphins, giraffes, lions or any other odd thing but I don't think I would want 4000lbs of radioactive material sitting right behind me for 3 hour stretches of time, 5 days a week, every week. Is there any way to make sure you don't get those particular runs? Is SEA the only base that has them?
We wear dosimeters which measure your exposure to radiation and these get turned in monthly. Ameriflight has a doctor that measures the radiation values to make sure you're not being overexposed. Before every leg we use an electronic device that measures radioactivity at certain areas around the aircraft. We also install a lead curtain between the cockpit and the first bay which cuts down exposure to almost zero while you're flying. The pilots DO NOT load this cargo. As far as I know, Cincinnati, Miami, Dallas, and Phoenix (not sure if its PHX or BUR pilots that fly the PHX-BUR leg) are the only bases that have the nuke runs and these are once a week on Sundays. Keep in mind all this info pertains only to flights under the 7060 exemption where you are carrying more than normal amount of radioactive material and cannot comply with the normal separation standards. These runs are only done in Metro's and 1900s, so you wouldn't need to worry about flying under 7060 until you transition into one of these aircraft. No matter where you are based, you WILL occasionally carry radioactive hazmat in very small amounts.