NASA scientists have (finally) launched a research program on the effects of high altitude radiation to which aircrew member and passengers are subject to.
Doses are gradually increasing with the increasing of flight altitude and latitude. An example experimentally detected is a return flight from Bergamo to Moscow (3 hours and 45 minutes each leg) flown at 39000 feet. The dose at which people on board is subject under normal conditions is about 60 micro Sievert, corresponding approximately to a couple of chest X-rays.

In Europe and particularly in Italy, the legislation provides for protection of Crew Members employed on aircraft, but says nothing and makes no provision for passengers, especially for the technical and / or managerial staff moving from one point to another in the world.
Flyrad launched a campaign about a few years ago. Unfortunately, our appeals went unheeded and, to date, no measure of protection is put in place for people who use the aircraft for business purposes. Truly scandalous insensitivity, especially if it is considered that, during solar storms, the doses absorbed during a flight could be hundreds or thousands of times more than in the conditions of quiet.
Another interesting discovery, made by prof. Dwyer of F.I.T., concerns the Lightning Strike phenomena in flight. Dwyer has shown that, when lightning strikes a target - in this case a plane - around the point of contact and within a range that can reach 500 meters, it generates a very powerful and highly penetrating emission of X-rays and Gamma rays, due the sudden deceleration of the electrons of the upward lightning. Absorbed doses range from 30 millisieverts to 100 millisieverts, which equals about 3,000 chest X-rays in one shot. For more information, please see our website page (http://www.flyrad.com/it/lsrp).
Flyrad has implemented a monitoring program of the state of the space and, in the event of increased solar activity, promptly sends the alert messages and the maximum flight altitude recommendation to its customers. The service is addressed mainly to airlines and pilots, but can also be advantageously used by passengers concerned to protect themselves from these unwanted phenomena, whose effects can be seen only in the long run, sometimes without remedies.

For any information about our researches and/or our services, please visit our website!