Airliner Dose Rates

["Otto G. Raabe" <ograabe@ucdavis.edu>]

May 12, 1998
Davis, CA

Dear RadSafers:

Now that we are concerned about neutrons as well as gamma rays, I would
appreciate some good rule-of-thumb estimates of the radiation dose rate
aboard U.S. commercial airliners at normal flight altitudes (e.g. 30,000
feet). It seems that 1 mrem/hour may be about right, so that a
transcontinental flight of 5 hours would involve 5 mrem one-way. That
sounds a lot higher than previous estimates. What do you think?

Thanks for your advice on this...
Otto 
		*****************************************************
		Prof. Otto G. Raabe, Ph.D., CHP
                [President, Health Physics Society, 1997-1998]
		Institute of Toxicology & Environmental Health (ITEH)
		     (Street address: Old Davis Road)
		University of California, Davis, CA 95616
		Phone: 530-752-7754  FAX: 530-758-6140 [NEW AREA CODE]
		E-mail ograabe@ucdavis.edu