Why is there so much radiation on a plane?

Flying in Airplanes With less atmosphere to protect us, we are exposed to more cosmic radiation than when we are standing on the ground. The amount of cosmic radiation we receive during flights depends on many things. Two of the most important factors are altitude and length of the flight.



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The Earth's atmosphere provides considerable protection from cosmic radiation. At commercial aircraft altitudes the protective layer of the Earth's atmosphere is much thinner than it is on the ground and the intensity of cosmic radiation is approximately 100 times greater at these altitudes than it is on the ground.

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5 Ways To Limit Your Radiation Exposure In Long Haul Flights
  1. Use a laptop shield. ...
  2. Get the right headset.
  3. Use a protective wallet case for your smartphone. ...
  4. Pregnant passengers should wear a protective band. ...
  5. Use anti-radiation blankets for infants and kids.


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We are exposed to low levels of radiation when we fly. You would be exposed to about 0.035 mSv (3.5 mrem) of cosmic radiation if you were to fly within the United States from the east coast to the west coast. This amount of radiation is less than the amount of radiation we receive from one chest x-ray.

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Passengers and flight crews are exposed to radiation because the shielding from Earth's atmosphere against high-energy solar particles and cosmic rays is weaker at normal cruising altitudes than at the surface.

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These exposures accumulate over time and are considerably higher for aircrew compared to the general population, and even higher compared to U.S. radiation workers. Many epidemiological studies on aircrew have observed higher rates of specific cancers compared to the general population.

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Flying exposes you to large amounts of radiation. A transcontinental flight at 30,000 feet exposes you to 1,000 times the amount of you receive from security scanner devices. Flying at night can reduce that exposure by 99 percent, but pilots often don't get to fly just at night.

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As technology in the industry has advanced to have passenger safety as a principal consideration, airplane seats can withstand 16 times gravity's force. These seats are also fireproof and do not emit toxic fumes if they were to catch on fire.

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Accident statistics suggest that flying by night accounts for about 10% of the general aviation accidents, but 30% of the fatalities. That suggests night flying must be inherently more dangerous than aviating when the sun is up.

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Try to reduce your time working on very long flights, flights at high latitudes, or flights which fly over the poles. These are flight conditions or locations that tend to increase the amount of cosmic radiation the crewmembers are exposed to. You can calculate your usual cosmic radiation exposures.

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It's often said that the radiation dose of a chest X-ray is comparable to flying across the continent, Smith-Bindman says, referring to natural radiation exposures at high altitudes. But a CT scan can be comparable to 500 transcontinental flights.

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