Short vs Long Sleeves, Under Armour and Cancer

journeybird

Well-Known Member
Sorry for the verbal diarrhea of a thread title.

I've talked to a few fellow flight deck inhabitants about their perspective on the level of radiation exposure one receives, especially on at altitude, and have had some that said they didn't care at all, some that use sunscreen, some that use windscreen shields, others that use wear long sleeves, and then those that use short sleeves but then put on Under Armour type slip on sleeves to protect themselves.

Anyone have any feedback in any capacity?
 
Although I use sunscreen if we're facing sunlight, I manage to keep out of direct sunlight any entire flight.

If it's so bright you need to wear things on your arms, then your hands are still exposed.

I think it's easier to block the sunlight via other means, at the window.
 
I flew with 1 captain who wore those compression sleeves. He was a weird dude.

When I flew multiple leg days, I wore either a compression or a golf sleeve on my right arm. Now that I'm doing single legs and the timing had the right side of the plane mostly out of the sun, I don't wear one as often.
 
It was much easier when we used paper charts, a couple enroutes and you had all the windows blocked.

I mean...

Yes sunscreen is great.
My low enroute 15/16 works great, it's got a second fold so it's just long enough to cover the entire window; hang the short section at the top, and wedge a checklist between the pillar and the sun visor rail and she stays. And I don't fly in New Mexico and West Tejas, so I don't care if it gets wrinkled
 
The windscreens block UV. The radiation you're receiving at altitude is mostly in the X-ray and gamma. Beta is blocked by even the thin aluminum and there shouldn't be a source of neutron or alpha up there.
Sunscreen, nor cotton will block X-ray and gamma, so wear whatever you want.

Out of intellectual curiosity I wore a dosimeter and carried a cheap(no neutron or alpha detectors) Geiger counter for a few months awhile back. Very averaged number's you're looking at about 2.0uSv/hr above 33,000. Below that it drops off pretty quick. Down in the teens it's still at levels you find on the ground in some places.
 
The windscreens block UV. The radiation you're receiving at altitude is mostly in the X-ray and gamma. Beta is blocked by even the thin aluminum and there shouldn't be a source of neutron or alpha up there.
Sunscreen, nor cotton will block X-ray and gamma, so wear whatever you want.

Out of intellectual curiosity I wore a dosimeter and carried a cheap(no neutron or alpha detectors) Geiger counter for a few months awhile back. Very averaged number's you're looking at about 2.0uSv/hr above 33,000. Below that it drops off pretty quick. Down in the teens it's still at levels you find on the ground in some places.
Moral of the story: fly turboprops
 
Sunscreen has no effect on cosmic radiation. Cosmic radiation levels approximately double from FL290 to FL330 and then double again from FL330 to FL370. If you want to track your cosmic radiation exposure over time the FAA has a website for it:


another:


more reading:


Lots of info out there:



Welcome to the rabbit hole.
 
Sunscreen has no effect on cosmic radiation. Cosmic radiation levels approximately double from FL290 to FL330 and then double again from FL330 to FL370. If you want to track your cosmic radiation exposure over time the FAA has a website for it:


another:


more reading:


Lots of info out there:



Welcome to the rabbit hole.
I have found the NASA and FAA estimators to estimate very high vs actual dose received.
 
The windscreens block UV. The radiation you're receiving at altitude is mostly in the X-ray and gamma. Beta is blocked by even the thin aluminum and there shouldn't be a source of neutron or alpha up there.
Sunscreen, nor cotton will block X-ray and gamma, so wear whatever you want.

Out of intellectual curiosity I wore a dosimeter and carried a cheap(no neutron or alpha detectors) Geiger counter for a few months awhile back. Very averaged number's you're looking at about 2.0uSv/hr above 33,000. Below that it drops off pretty quick. Down in the teens it's still at levels you find on the ground in some places.

Thanks for this post.

I had a few people say they saw some old retired pilots arms that were ravaged by sun exposure at altitude, any comment on that, or do you think that's just coincidental sun damage from other exposure?
 
did you venture up into the 40s at all?
Cruise altitudes from 280 to 410, Latitudes from 72N to 37S
Thanks for this post.

I had a few people say they saw some old retired pilots arms that were ravaged by sun exposure at altitude, any comment on that, or do you think that's just coincidental sun damage from other exposure?
I've seen truckers with that.
100% of UV-B is blocked. Depending on the age of your airplane, some or up to half of UV-A might be getting through. Effective UV-A coatings on windscreens is a newerish thing. PPG(the paint company) have some cool stuff for adding to windscreens that don't have effective UV-A blocking.
Here's a study the FAA did awhile ago regarding UV exposure to eyes.
https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/a471609.pdf

And I just found this - Aircraft Windscreen UV: See How You Measure Up
If you look at his data, notice how older jets let in the 15-20% of UV-A through but new stuff is right around or at 0. The GA stuff not letting any through is because plastics block UV-A better than glass.
 
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All my retired airline captain friends have had major skin cancer issues: top of ear lopped off, multiple Mohes procedures, etc.
One more reason for wearing old-school phones instead of buds.
Mo bettah you take care yo skin.
 
A researcher from Los Alamos is buddies with one of our pilots. Our pilot shared an email he sent. The gist: being a pilot ain’t that bad.
 
I’ve only met one or two pilots that used sunscreen at work, and one of those guys was so pale, he’d need sunscreen even if he went trick or treating.


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