Pilots fly low to curb radiation
Dipesh Gadher, Transport Correspondent, Sunday Times
BRITISH AIRWAYS pilots are rejecting the airline’s flight plans and flying at lower altitudes amid concerns over health risks to passengers and crew from cosmic radiation.
The pilots believe airlines are understating the potential dangers to the public of exposure to cosmic rays to save money on fuel. Planes flying at higher altitudes travel faster and burn less kerosene, but they also encounter higher radiation levels.
The fears come in the wake of scientific research which suggests that aircrew and frequent flyers are more likely to get cancer than others. It also follows claims that airlines failed to warn passengers about the risks of deep-vein thrombosis (DVT).
The issue has been brought to a head by the recent solar storm, which has led to unusually high levels of radioactive particles bombarding the Earth. In America, the Federal Aviation Administration, the industry’s regulatory body, initially went as far as advising pilots to reduce flying their height on certain routes.
The British authorities felt it unnecessary to issue similar guidance since the onset of the solar storm almost two weeks ago, but The Sunday Times has learnt that some pilots at BA and other airlines have taken matters into their own hands.
“I refused a flight plan from North America (to London) because it would have taken me to 35,000ft to take advantage of a strong jet stream,” said the captain of a Boeing 747. “I stayed below 30,000ft all the way. The flight took half an hour longer, but I didn’t get my hair singed. And I know from speaking to other pilots at other airlines that some are adopting the same approach.”
The pilot added: “This isn’t just a problem during times of excessive solar activity and this is a good time to ensure people know what they’re getting into when they fly. Airlines knew about DVT for years, but were belatedly forced to confront it because of the publicity.”
Flight plans, often based on weather forecasts, are drawn up by airline ground staff and passed on to pilots and air traffic controllers in advance. However, pilots carry sole legal responsibility for flights and are within their rights to refuse the plans or amend them.
Another Boeing 747 captain pointed out that some frequent flyers might be at even greater risk from exposure to radiation than pilots because the pilots are legally barred from flying more than 900 hours a year.
Cosmic radiation is the collective name for radiation from the sun and the wider universe. It is characterised by energetic particles which can disrupt molecules in living cells. The atmosphere acts as a natural shield, but the higher one flies the thinner the atmosphere becomes, affording less protection.
The effects of cosmic radiation are also more prevalent at the northern and southern poles, where the Earth’s magnetic field is less effective in deflecting particles. This makes long-haul flights across the Arctic to Japan, for example, far more hazardous.
Passengers flying at 35,000ft are exposed to between 50 and 100 times more radiation than a person on the ground, according to the National Radiological Protection Board (NRPB). A transatlantic flight is equivalent to receiving at least one chest x-ray.
“There is no proven link between cancer in flight crews and cosmic radiation,” said Dr Michael Clark of the NRPB. “But that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t take sensible precautions to minimise its impact.”
Last month researchers in Iceland claimed female flight attendants who worked for five or more years before 1971 were five times more likely to develop breast cancer than those with less experience.
Dr Bob Bentley of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory, University College, London, which is leading a three-year study into the impact of cosmic radiation, said: “There are concerns, particularly in the higher latitudes and especially during particle events such as the one we have seen recently.”
A spokesman for BA denied claims that pilots were encouraged to fly at higher altitudes to save fuel: “We take our duty of care to both passengers and flight crew very seriously and we would never fly our aircraft if there was a potential health risk. We measure exposure to cosmic radiation in all our flight and cabin crew to ensure that they do not exceed safe levels, and, at this point, all the evidence suggests that passengers are not at risk from its effects.”
