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High Altitude Radiation discussion...

Old 12-05-2011, 06:44 PM
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Default High Altitude Radiation discussion...

Anyone on thoughts of how much gamma we are picking up above FL410.
Is our risk of melanoma (or other cancers) increased more due to altitude, time aloft, both?
Know of guys with 30,000 hours +, no problems and others with much less experience who have departed way too soon.
Curious to see if anyone with a med background can jump in here.
Thnx.
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Old 12-05-2011, 07:14 PM
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For reference:

http://www2.ans.org/pubs/magazines/nn/pdfs/2000-1-3.pdf

And

http://www.andytracy.net/files/radiate.pdf
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Old 12-06-2011, 01:22 AM
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Also here:
http://www.faa.gov/library/reports/m...media/0316.pdf

In Flight health- Cabin Radiation - AviationKnowledge


Calculate your exposure for a particular flight:
FAA Civil Aeromedical Institute - CARI
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Old 12-10-2011, 07:40 PM
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Good reading! Appreciate it.
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Old 12-11-2011, 02:56 AM
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My dad and I worked the numbers on this for a "typical" domestic pilot (this is Dad's field). Bottom line it came out to a measurable but statistically very small increase in cancer risk over a career. It's a little higher for someone who does a lot of long-haul.

Turboprop career: low risk.
Small Jets: low but measurable, better than transcons
Domestic: low but measurable
International: still low but not as low.

For comparison, the annual limit for industrial workers is .05 Sieverts, although most workers do not reach this limit. Some do, there are even jobs where you do high-exposure work and quickly reach your limit thus "timing out" for the year (these folks are called "sponges"). Pay attention to the units...the aviation exposure charts are in micro or milli Sieverts...many orders of magnitude less than the occupational limit.

But you can offset the effects of ionizing radiation with lifestyle choices, plus pilots are generally healthier overall which helps to offset cancer risk as well other health risks.

A lot safer than cigarettes and hard liqueur. A whole let safer than meth and crack hos.


Could the industry do anything to protect us? Well, that depends on what how you define "us". At the expense of some extra weight the cockpits could get enough shielding to make a big dent in exposure (lead is not required, anything with hydrogen in it works well too...water, oil, and plastics for example. But it would be weight prohibitive to shield the cabin, so there's not much you could do for the girls. Possibly shield the galley areas and require that they hang out there when not performing cabin duties (what they usually do anyway).

At the very least they should provide lifetime, no co-pay, no questions asked, full medical coverage for all of the cancers which are primarily associated with ionizing radiation. Some cancers such as prostate statistically have other root causes.

Last edited by rickair7777; 12-11-2011 at 03:27 AM.
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Old 12-11-2011, 05:41 AM
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Originally Posted by rickair7777 View Post
At the very least they should provide lifetime, no co-pay, no questions asked, full medical coverage for all of the cancers which are primarily associated with meth and crack hos.
Changed it for you
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