Are pilots exposed to a lot of UV rays? What can you do?

[WhySoTough]

I've been curiously reading lately and understand that there are two main types of UV radiation that effect us.
UVA and UVB.

UVA(the visible light you see) radiation penetrates deep into the skin and is responsible for premature aging of the skin and skin cancer. Tanning beds can emit 2 to 5 times more UVA radiation than the sun.

UVB (the infrared light you feel as heat) radiation is stronger than UVA radiation. It mainly affects the outer layers of the skin, causing sunburns, premature aging of the skin, and skin cancer. These rays are strongest during summer months.


I've read contradicting things that the cockpits windshield blocks out most the UVA.


If it doesn't, does this make a pilot a lot more exposed to radiation weather he/she likes it or not and there's very little that can be done about it?

Premature aging / wrinkles and cancer are the biggest effects of UV.
Is a pilot badly exposed to this?
Is there anything that can help?
Do you do anything to help?

Appreciate the responses and thanks in advance.

[Tarq57]

I suspect the metal around the flight decks and the thick windscreens/heating elements would shield you from most of the UV. Most pilots have quality sunglasses to protect from glare, as much as from UV.

What is probably more significant, over a lifetime of flying, would be the Xrays and Gamma rays. These can penetrate low-density materials. (Such as aluminium, kevlar, and plastic.)

What to do? I'll leave that to the pilots to answer. I work just above ground level.

[dubbleyew eight]

first of all get your physics right.

uv, ultraviolet radiation is just light slightly off the blue end of the visible light frequencies.

heat is transmitted by infrared radiation which is just off the red end of the visible light frequencies.

we in australia are exposed to far more light than you are in the higher latitudes. australians love the beach and we live to enjoy old age.
even poms who have migrated live to a ripe old age in australia.

the simple message is dont get sunburnt.

beyond that what you are reading is mainly all codswallop, but of course it is all wrapped in pseudo scientific language so you'll be utterly absorbed by it.

oh "pilots exposed to it all" ...wear a baseball hat the right way around to shield the face, the headphones take care of the ears and a long sleeved shirt will protect the arms, a pair of jeans protect the legs.

(I know. all this is so difficult to master that either I must be an utter legend or you're a bit of an idiot. your choice.)

[galaxy flyer]

As an USAF Colonel told me, "You pay your money, you take your chance, you can't live forever". Don't worry about it.

[rottenray]

exposed to radiation weather

Does anybobys no how to english on this sight ennymor?

[Green Guard]

we in australia are exposed to far more light than you are in the higher latitudes

Ozzis are exposed more b'cos of few clouds and also b'cos the sun is about 5 million KM closer to Oz in Oz-summer time..:{

[Wizofoz]

Ozzis are exposed more b'cos of few clouds and also b'cos the sun is about 5 million KM closer to Oz in Oz-summer time..

Shall we just agree right now that most pilots have no idea about the most basic facets of science? This would hold the record for most errors per word!!

[FlightlessParrot]

I am not a pilot, but I've just had a skin cancer chopped out, so I have a little to contribute.

UVa and UVb are different parts of the ultraviolet spectrum--UVa closer to visible blue, UVb further away (shorter wavelength). The shorter the wavelength, broadly, the stronger the effects.

One major effect of UV is skin cancer: mostly basal skin carcinoma, which won't kill you, but can result in nasty ulcers. Australians and NZers get high exposure to UV (in part because of the ozone hole), and as a result have high rates of skin cancer. UV may also exacerbate melanoma, which will kill you, probably, but UV seems to have only an indirect effect on melanoma (it can mess up DNA, apparently, which bears thinking about).

High UV exposure may also cause cataracts, and some other eye problems.

Various things absorb UV, whilst transmitting visible light: ozone in the upper atmosphere, air, glass, some plastics. Glass and plastics can be treated to increase UV absorption.

High altitude, therefore, increases exposure to UV (I once lived on the NSW Great Dividing Range, at about 3,600' ASL: sunburn was a real problem). Shielding by glass or plastic will reduce exposure, to a varying extent, subject to thickness and precise composition of the transparencies.

Photochromic sunglasses go dark when exposed to UV light: they do not work satisfactorily inside a closed car, so I would imagine that the flight deck of an airliner, a fortiori, would NOT have a high UV level. On the other hand, a low wing light aircraft could be Nature's own tanning bed, depending on the material of the canopy. Apparently, polycarbonate is good at UV shielding. On the other hand, again, it is possible to get sunburned even through glass, if exposed long enough. Therefore it would seem sensible to take precautions, as seen in all the best photographs of Australasian glider pilots: broad-brimmed hat, good quality sunglasses, preferably wrap-around, and plenty of SPF 30+.

If in doubt, it can't be too hard to get a reliable UV meter on loan or hire.

Keep safe--half my contemporaries seem to be having BCCs cut out.

[stilton]

I'd be more worried about chemicals / fumes coming in to the cockpit.



This has caused some Pilots terrible problems.

[vilas]

Flying around 40000ft Pilots are definitely exposed to UV and also radiation. At least among tropical country's pilots cataracts around 60 years is not uncommon. I do not know how much race and genetics is involved in this.

[Al Murdoch]

dubbleyew eight,
Brilliantly rude and patronising answer there.
How about you get your physics right instead of berating someone for asking a completely sensible question?
Heat is only partly transferred to the earth from the sun by infrared. Roughly half is direct infrared transfer from the sun, the other half being created from the absorption of light energy to create infrared.

[awblain]

The ozone layer that screens UV is above aircraft altitudes.
Most glass also screens UV. So, UV is not an onboard risk.

UVA and UVB are broad bands. The solar spectrum is a blackbody at ~6000K, so UV light from the Sun is fading quickly shortwards of blue light to the ~310nm atmospheric cutoff.

You need to worry about UV on the ground, not onboard.
Follow the Australian advice on the matter.

Aircrew are subject to enhanced cosmic ray radiation, at polar latitudes, at high altitudes and during solar storms. I understand that Concorde crews were licensed radiation workers.

[dubbleyew eight]

Brilliantly rude and patronising answer there.

thank you al. I try my best. I dont mind answering a newbie question seriously but honestly some of the people make you wonder whether they need continual prompting to breathe.

[Wizofoz]

...And UVB is still nothing to do with infra-red.

[One Outsider]

...need continual prompting to breathe. If you stopped, mankind would be better off.

[vlkyplky]

uncertain about the uva or uvb radiation, but in my airline we get yearly estimate of cosmic radiation. there is lot of it i.e. compared to nuclear powerstation worker where crews gets more. i remember a good article from aerosafety have a read

Flare-Ups | Flight Safety Foundation (http://flightsafety.org/aerosafety-world-magazine/mar-2013/flare-ups)

[Agaricus bisporus]

I've been curiously reading lately

UVA(the visible light you see)
UVB (the infrared light you feel as heat)

Your reading is indeed curious if this is the utter twaddle you've found.
Suggest you go find a diagram of the spectrum of light to see why.
This is roughly equivalent to telling us that you can see in the dark and that cabbages are bananas.

Dear me!:ugh:

[FullWings]

To answer the OP:

I've read contradicting things that the cockpits windshield blocks out most the UVA.
Yes. Some have thin films and/or absorbing material in the laminate somewhere. "Most" is a relative term - at 40,000', what is left after "most" has been filtered out can still be significant.

Premature aging / wrinkles and cancer are the biggest effects of UV.
Is a pilot badly exposed to this?
Is there anything that can help?
Do you do anything to help?

I wear sunblock on the flight deck, as I have found myself with the first symptoms of mild sunburn after a long daylight flight. I am sensitive in that respect, having virtually no natural pigmentation, so am a bit of a canary for UV exposure. Others may not notice anything at all.

I also avoid direct exposure (newspapers are good for this ;)). As someone pointed out earlier in the thread, the main problem is on the ground, especially at high altitude. For near-albinos like me, it's literally minutes before burning starts.

Here's a graph from NASA showing Ozone and UV levels in a representative atmospheric cross-section:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cb/Ozone_altitude_UV_graph.svg

Note that in the 10-15km altitude range, where most jets operate, you are already above some of the ozone (which is why airliners have ozone converters) and are experiencing significantly higher levels of UV-a and UV-b.

[Oceanic815Pilot]

Knew a FO once whose mother made him a lead lined vest to wear when he flew and who also took his airline provided spirulina pills to offset the effects of radiation. Haven't asked him lately how that's working for him...

[Desert185]

Here's my experience.

I flew the North Pac for years between ANC and Asia. The sun was on my left arm for hours headed westbound and I began to notice little lesions (not really the technical term) on my arm. After wearing a long-sleeve cruise shirt, the lesions began to disappear or reduce in appearance. The left sleeve of the shirt also noticeable faded.

After some research on this, I found that the cockpit windows do not block any UV. My ophthalmologist suggested that I get a UV block coating on my sunglasses, which I did.

Scoff if you will, but there is something to this UV concern.

[749CONNIE]

Answer to the original question. Yes. Having just completed bilateral cataract surgery and an earlier surgery for skin cancer. Obviously these problems occur with years of flying.

[dubbleyew eight]

or years of anything else for that matter....

[749CONNIE]

Maybe. Then again, I've been doing this gig for 45 years with 2 to go. In an earlier life we had radiation detectors in our pressure suits while we roamed around above 80k. Never told us what the readings were. Sitting "Vector" alert in jolly 'ol England with 2 or 3 nukes strapped to one ass probably didn't help as did straddling 10 radar jammers during the Gulf war. Having taken over from Desert 185, pushing tin across the North Pac, one wonders.

[dubbleyew eight]

think of the poor old farmer on the nuffield or fergie tractor for years on end.
they suffer the same as you, sometimes worse.
yes there is a risk but nothing greater in the long term than a humble farmer would suffer.

radiation tabs on the suit werent a medal for service. if they didnt tell you the result of the checking you can almost bet the result was found to be trivial.

cataracts? so what, a pair of new plastic lenses under a general anaesthetic and a weeks recovery and your sight will be as right as rain.

[Andy_P]

FWIW, I used to work with UV measuring instruments. Standard acrylics are will block UV to about 300nm (UVB) and after that require coatings to block out UVA. So small aircraft screens will not offer much protection. I can only imagine that larger aircraft use different plastics/glasses for screens and would be different and maybe coated?

[misd-agin]

A white shirt will have a UV protection of approx. 4 SPF.


Flying in an airliner is similar to being outside in Denver (5400').

[HPSOV L]

This was covered in a dunnunda thread.
I was a sceptic until I discovered this document:

Aerospace Medicine Technical Reports (http://www.faa.gov/data_research/research/med_humanfacs/oamtechreports/2000s/2007/200720/)

You can google for the complete PDF. Basically enough UV A gets through that airline pilots should at least wear good wrap around sunglasses.

[Green Guard]

however, glass laminate windscreens allowed higher levels of potentially damaging UV-A radiation to be transmitted than did plastic
that is interesting...so if one wears any plastic glasses should not worry for eyes !?!?

[fc101]

Microwaves cause the water molecules in the food to vibrate, from which you get heat...

[Semaphore Sam]

UVA is the real source of danger for the skin, a certain exposure to UVB is the best source for Vitamin D; BUT, it must be done with care, and is only beneficial under carefully controlled conditions. I used newspapers and long sleeves, being blond and fair skinned. There was nothing worse for the eyes/face than a noon-ish departure from Anchorage, and late afternoon arrival in Tokyo.

[fc101]

Ah, so infrared must be a special kind of electromagnetic radiation which is actually hot rather than simply a carrier of energy. Like, for example, microwaves...

This will help:

HowStuffWorks "Microwaves" (http://home.howstuffworks.com/microwave1.htm)

[awblain]

Microwaves cause (mostly water) molecules to rotate.
Infrared causes molecular bonds to vibrate.

Both sap energy from the radiation into the irradiated material, but without ionization.

Neither are as worrying for DNA as ionizing radiation, which kicks electrons out from these molecules, and tends to do it throughout the body, not just on the skin. High UV intensities and skin damage from sunburn do damage skin. Cosmic ray muons give high-fliers more whole-body radiation exposure. I believe that Concorde crews got enough of a dose to need formal radiation worker status and monitoring, as would any nuclear power worker.

Exposure to cosmic radiation of British Airways flying crew on ultralonghaul routes. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1128520/)

[10Watt]

After 9/11 l took a job as a lorry driver ( truck driver ).

My right elbow became very brown and l still have large areas of dark skin on

that arm.

My badge of honour, for driving on the proper side of the road.

[dusk2dawn]

Go PubMed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi) and search for "cancer aircrew"....

[lifeafteraviation]

I think like most things you have to weigh the risks against various factors.

In China all the pilots are scared to fly above 8900m for fear of long term radiation poisoning....yet they are perfectly happy to smoke in the cockpit and don't wear protective breathing masks in the major cities. They also like to fly slow because the noise is bad for them...thus prolonging their exposure.

The newspapers are fine when you're over low traffic density areas during cruise, but leaving them up until below 3000m flying through Beijing airspace? comon! what's the greater risk here?

Oh...and you get three or four X-Rays a year with a Chinese flight physical.

Yes there certainly is greater radiation exposure at high altitude and the exposure is greater along extreme northern routes during periods of high solar activity. This is why long haul weather packages include the space storm outlooks.

The thing is...if the metal skin and windshield aren't protecting you from low frequency radiation, newspapers, sunglasses and long sleeve shirts won't either. The high frequency radiation will be blocked by the airframe. Mostly the newspapers make the sunlight less annoying, especially when it's sitting on your nose on a westbound flight taking it's sweet time to go down. The greatest health benefit there is reduced stress and fatigue. Just don't rub the ink all over your hands.