Originally Posted by HuggyU2

Has ALPA accomplished a radiation study of any sort? If not, the membership should insist on it. If they have, would someone post a link?

The pilots in the "high-altitude" aviation community are considered "radiation workers" due to the amount of exposure they get. U-2 flights are now flown with dosimeters to allow tracking of the radiation that each pilot receives. Radiation levels are monitored daily and if the forecast is that they will be high due to solar flare activity or whatever, the flight will be cancelled.

Back around 2009, about 80 of us volunteered for a brain MRI study to try to help correlate the damage being done in the form of brain lesions. This was after we had a spate of serious injuries and one near fatality. Was radiation a contributing factor along with the high cabin altitudes we were experiencing? I don't believe they ever concluded it was... but the radiation is definitely there.

Is flying in the FL350 range for 15 hours, including a pole transit, significant WRT the amount of millirems? The answer should be known by now. And if it isn't, someone needs to get on it.

It is not my intent to derail the discussion with a thread drift. We can certainly start a new thread if anyone wants to discuss health effect of long-haul flying.