Cosmic Dude!

Interesting report this morning on News24, about the effects of cosmic rays on aircraft an d the people who fly on them.
they have done tests and the worst flights for radiation are the polar flights i.e. to Japan, and even on transatlantic flights each pax gets the equivalent of 1 x-ray per flight.
So those who fly frequently could be in trouble. They are also investigating the large amounts of cabin crew who suffer from melanomas.
So get your VS stewie before she glows in the dark! [}:)]

Seriously though, should VS take steps? and what steps could be taken??

The problem of radiation exposure on flights such as those you've mentioned has been known for some time now.

Short of putting a thin lining of lead around the whole cabin (and thus increasing the weight of the plane significantly), drasticly changing current flight routes or flying at a much lower altitude, I'm not sure what other measure can be taken...

Unless of course there's another material/technique to shield pax from such radiation (lead way not even work, I was just guessing).

TJ

[Decker]

Interesting discussion of this here - http://hps.org/publicinformation/ate/q2783.html. NASA has this to say... http://helios.gsfc.nasa.gov/qa_sw.html#airplane

Thanks Decker.

NASA seems to have it right. The shielding required would increase the wieght of the aircraft too much.

Until something comes along that can combat the problem, the only thing you can do is not fly etc (which isn't an option for the vast majority of the world's travellers).

TJ

[Decker]

de nada - must be the same sort of occupational hazard as being a dentist