rickair7777

"High energy" radiation (ie cosmic) penetrates the body deeply and is less likely to "dump" it's energy into the skin.

UV radiation (ie the sun) is by far the primary mode for radiation-induced skin damage.

I have an HP background and have casually researched pilot radiation exposure. The only significant statistical uptick in cancers for pilots seems to be skin cancer...but since cockpit windows filter almost all UVB (the UV component known to cause cancer) I suspect that pilots get more skin cancer because of off-the-job lifestyle factors...we are more likely to be active outdoor types with a lot of time on our hands than the average white-collar guy.

Based on "typical" career flight times and altitudes there "should" be a very slight but measurable increase in overall cancer risk for pilots due to additional radiation exposure. I'd be a lot more worried about other, controllable, lifestyle factors. That said...a big solar flare could give you quite a dose on a long high-altitude flight.

rickair7777

Cockpit windows block most UVB, which is the component known to cause skin cancer. UVA gets through and is known to cause skin aging, fatigue, and immune system impairment, so I use sunblock while flying for those reasons.

When I'm doing outdoor activities on my days off I use sunblock to try to prevent skin cancer.

Sata 4000 RP

I have three childhood friends 33-34 years of age, of which two are best friends and all graduated in the same class from the same HS, and all three have terminal brain cancer as of this time last year.

As an added bonus, it has moved into the lungs of two of them.

None are pilots, none smoke though one smoked a little grass in college.

On top of that, a fourth girl who happens to be a year younger from the same HS and is an ex gf of my brother's, had the same symptoms (a weekend long migraine) as the one girl did who found out she had terminal cancer, so she went to the ER on a Sunday and demanded a scan.

Sure enough, scheduled surgery for Monday. Ninety-nine percent was removed and chemo has beat back the rest at this point (this was April 2013).

BTW Timbo, this is metro ATL so maybe it is the water as you eluded to in your post? Who knows.

Timbo

Well all the guys I knew who died of brain cancer all lived in south eastern New Hampshire, or north eastern Mass. There is a lot of granite in the ground up there, granite is supposed to hold radon gas.

So....whether there was benzene in the water from years of dumping jet fuel on the ground, or radon gas in everyone's basement, from the granite, I don't know, but it seemed weird to me that so many of these guys were getting the same thing, glioblastoma.

BUT, the info online says it predominately attacks white males over the age of 50...so...? Maybe it's not the benzene in the water or the radon in the granite, but a genetic thing?

RhinoPherret

Most interesting when non medical folks muse about this type of disease. I see WAG’s are still a driving force when contemplating the unknown. Unless of course, you stayed at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

rickair7777

Genetic predisposition combined with environmental factors could result in significantly elevated risk.

outaluckagain

Yes, I have been gathering also that Genetic predisposition may not be the only reason people are getting cancer. Environmental factors have been thought as being what is damaging a persons DNA. It is difficult to prove directly that a certain substance has caused a particular persons cancer, but they have been able to prove that certain environmental factors cause damage to DNA that has otherwise not been proven to have been previously damaged.

rickair7777

My general, broad understanding...

Cancer is generally understood to be caused by damage to cellular DNA resulting in unconstrained cell growth. This damage occurs primarily due to outside (environmental) factors such as radiation, chemical agents, or free radicals.

Free radicals are interesting, they are basically unstable molecules with a part missing, and the chemical "jagged edges" can react strongly with other molecules, including DNA. They can be created by chemical processes or radiation. The chemical process can be outside agents, or even natural biological processes within the organism.

Radiation can damage DNA directly, or by creating free radicals within the organism which then interact with DNA.

It's theoretically possible, but probably rare, that DNA could spontaneously mutate to produce cancer. DNA has evolved over literally billions of years and is pretty stable, so most damage is probably caused by outside factors.

A genetic pre-disposition could manifest in several ways...

A section of DNA might be more susceptible to damage or more likely to result in cancer when damaged.

But the other way genetics come into play is AFTER the cancer-causing damage occurs...most cancerous cells actually get destroyed by your immune system very quickly and never survive to multiply and spread into cancer as we know it. A genetic "loophole" in the immune system can cause the immune system to be prone to miss certain type(s) of cancerous cells.

It gets complicated.

bozobigtop

Paying the cost to be the boss!

72345677

I've flown for UAL for over 25 years, 15 years or so long haul on some of the highest radiation routes (eg LAX to LHR). I now have Grade 3 anaplastic astrocytoma. Survival is about 25% over 5 years. Often turns into GBM, the deadliest form of brain cancer (survival around 12 months give or take). I've looked at the various surveys and none of them seem to take into account the changing nature of commercial flying and include this type of month in month out long leg high altitude flying for many years. My experience is the same as Timbo's (the original poster on this thread). Far more pilots seem to die of brain cancer (or acquire other forms of cancer) than mere chance would suggest. A friend at British Airways has the same impression, despite radiation rules and monitoring being much more stringent in Europe.

I would like to conduct an informal survey. Please could you private message me with all the cases you know of (and ask around among those you fly with). I'd like to put together a more up-to-date (if unscientific) picture of what's really going on out there. I promise to publish the (de-identified) results on this thread. Purpose is to protect other pilots by making them aware of any risks (so they can bid their flying to take account of this if they wish) and perhaps change the regulatory situation.

Useful information if available:
Routes flown, for how many years, equipment, airline. Type of military flying if applicable with same info.. Anything to indicate how much radiation might have been received and for how long.

Incidentally, I read on the website of a major cancer center that anaplastic astrocytomas are caused by - you guessed it - ionizing radiation!