How much radiation do pilots and flight attendants get?
About 3 mSv a year on average, which the United Nations' scientific committee (UNSCEAR) ranked among the higher occupational exposures; the FAA counts cosmic radiation as occupational exposure for crew. The FAA recommends crew stay under a five-year average of 20 mSv a year, with no more than 50 mSv in any one year.
Updated
What a year adds up to
A crew member's annual dose is roughly hours in the air times the average dose rate of the routes they fly. The rate depends mostly on latitude and altitude, so a crew flying the North Atlantic or polar routes collects far more per hour than one flying short hops near the equator. At the standard-flight rates for August 2026 and 35,000 ft:
| Flying routes like | Dose rate | 600 h a year | 900 h a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| JFK → HKG | 4.0 µSv/h | 2.4 mSv | 3.6 mSv |
| JFK → DXB | 3.8 µSv/h | 2.3 mSv | 3.4 mSv |
| LHR → ORD | 4.4 µSv/h | 2.6 mSv | 4 mSv |
| ORD → LHR | 4.3 µSv/h | 2.6 mSv | 3.9 mSv |
| LAX → SYD | 2.0 µSv/h | 1.2 mSv | 1.8 mSv |
| JNB → LHR | 2.0 µSv/h | 1.2 mSv | 1.8 mSv |
| JFK → LAX | 3.8 µSv/h | 2.3 mSv | 3.4 mSv |
| LAX → JFK | 3.7 µSv/h | 2.2 mSv | 3.4 mSv |
| ATL → LAX | 3.3 µSv/h | 2 mSv | 3 mSv |
| HNL → LAX | 2.2 µSv/h | 1.3 mSv | 2 mSv |
| LGA → ORD | 3.3 µSv/h | 2 mSv | 2.9 mSv |
Hours here are airborne hours, not duty or block hours. Higher cruise altitudes, the quiet years of the solar cycle and solar radiation storms all push the numbers up; the rates above are for one month and one altitude.
The recommendations
- The FAA's recommended occupational limit is a five-year average effective dose of 20 mSv a year, no more than 50 mSv in a single year, the same as the ICRP's. The FAA describes these as "upper limits of acceptability", not thresholds beyond which a dose is intolerable (AC 120-61B, 7b).
- For a pregnant crewmember, the FAA recommends no more than 0.5 mSv a month to the conceptus (AC 120-61B, 7c). More on pregnancy.
- In the United States these are recommendations, not regulations. In the European Union, Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom requires airlines to assess the exposure of crew who could receive more than 1 mSv a year.
- The FAA's advice for reducing exposure is the ALARA principle (as low as reasonably achievable): less time aloft, lower altitudes and lower latitudes, and descending in response to a solar radiation alert on high-latitude routes (AC 120-61B, 9b).
Your own total
FlightDose gives each leg you log a CARI-7 dose with its real date, altitude and time in the air, and totals them by month, year and lifetime: a running number of your own between company reports.
Sources
- Federal Aviation Administration. Advisory Circular AC 120-61B, In-Flight Radiation Exposure, 2014 (citing UNSCEAR's 2000 report for the 3 mSv average).
- International Commission on Radiological Protection. ICRP Publication 103, 2007.
- Council of the European Union. Council Directive 2013/59/Euratom (basic safety standards), 2013.
A dosimeter for crew who don't carry one
Log every leg, see the total climb against the 20 mSv recommendation and any ceiling you set, and get alerts when a solar radiation storm is in progress.
FlightDose calculates your exact flight.
Free to download on iOS and Android. In-app purchases available.