Cosmic radiation and aircrew exposure

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

The radiation field at flight altitudes is generated by the interaction of the primary cosmic radiation from space with atoms of the atmosphere. The cosmic particle flux is significantly higher on board aircraft than at the ground level and its intensity depends on latitude, altitude, solar activity and solar eruptions. Owing to the complexity of the field of secondary cosmic radiation—in fact this field consists of a variety of different particles including neutrons, protons, electrons, positrons, photons, positive and negative muons, etc., with kinetic energies exceeding the GeV range—there is no dosemeter system available so far that is able to cover the dose contributions of these particles separately. The study of naturally occurring radiation and its associated risk is one of the preoccupations of bodies responsible for radiation protection. Due to their professional activity, aircraft crews and frequent flyers may receive an annual dose of some millisieverts. This is why the EU Directive 96/29/EURATOM published in 1996, regards aircraft crew personnel as being ‘occupationally exposed to radiation’, and why it recommends individuals of this to be monitored if their annual effective dose from cosmic radiation is supposed to exceed 1 mSv. Routine assessment of effective dose is made by calculations that are verified by measurements of the radiation environment. Such calculations are done based on operational flight plans.