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Fun fact you will also get a higher dose of radiation taking North Pole routes
by mikeodds 5y ago
Fun fact you will also get a higher dose of radiation taking North Pole routes
- unnouinceput 5y agoPretty sure the airplane will, not the passengers inside.
- mikekij 5y agoThe people inside will absolutely receive a larger radiation dose. A thin metal shell does not block a large percentage of cosmic radiation.
- fosk 5y agoI wonder if planes could be built in such a way to include two sheets of outside layer, with a gas (can a gas be used to shield radiation?) in between those sheets to shield the passengers from outside radiation. Or maybe use a polyethylene layer?
- jasonwatkinspdx 5y agoThe bulk of the radiation are cosmic rays or things showered from them. Shielding isn't practical. But also, on the scale of things to worry about in life, this is way down there.
- roywiggins 5y agoCosmic radiation will penetrate anything that isn't, like, a good-size chunk of lead.
- traceroute66 5y ago> Fun fact you will also get a higher dose of radiation taking North Pole routes It only matters for very frequent flyers (i.e. people who put in almost as many hours as flight crew). For your average Joe that barely flies much, it won't make any difference.
- type0 5y agoit does matter for the airplane staff
- traceroute66 5y ago> it does matter for the airplane staff Yes it does, but you don't need to worry about that. There are already procedures in place for "normal" operations. It only needs a few tiny changes to take into account the arctic route, and I'm sure all the airlines have already done that. Basically they only need to tweak shift rotas a little. For most airlines you won't even notice the impact on flight scheduling.
- Tepix 5y agoThat depends on the airline of course
- megablast 5y agoWhat a lot of words to say the airlines rotate staff on those routes.
- traceroute66 5y ago> What a lot of words to say the airlines rotate staff on those routes. Well, you were very welcome to answer the question yourself with fewer words. I note the distinct lack of an answer from you though.
- chinathrow 5y agoYeah but this should be tracked by airlines, if I recall correctly.
- mullingitover 5y agoHow many bananas would the dose be equivalent to?
- CoastalCoder 5y agoCan't believe this just occurred to me now, but do passengers on the polar route ever get good views of the Northern Lights?
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Hallucinaut 5y agoI've seen them on a flight before quite some distance from the north pole. I am not 100% certain on the flight but I think it was a Norwegian Air Dreamliner flight from London to New York, which still goes reasonably far north.
- jfk13 5y agoWe had a spectacular view of them a few years ago on a flight from Portland (OR) to London.
- hectormalot 5y agoI’ve once had an amazing view on the northern lights flying icelandair. Crew went around waking people up so they could see it.
- kylehotchkiss 5y agoUnited forced the window shades closed on the 787 trips I took over the arctic circle. Couldn’t even see them if you wanted to.
- thematrixturtle 5y agoPeak aurora season is during and after the polar night in Dec to Mar. If the shades were forced closed, your flight was likely during the Midnight Sun period of 24h light, meaning you wouldn't have been able to see them anyway.
- netsharc 5y agoI hate that the 787's electrically dimmable windows can be centrally controlled! Yeah it makes sense that they are "locked open" during takeoffs and landings, but horrific when you want to look outside to see the stars and the coffee-cart pushers have locked them for the night.
- paxys 5y agoSo will taking a CT scan or eating a banana or some nuts. That statement is meaningless unless you can quantify it.