Pilots and Flight Attendants Face a Real Cancer Risk. Frequent Flyers Shouldn’t Panic

A recent study has found that pilots and flight attendants face a higher risk of radiation-related cancers compared to workers in over 500 occupations. However, this does not necessarily mean frequent flyers should panic about their travel plans. The study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine, examined nearly 12.7 million deaths from 2020 to 2024 and found that flight attendants and pilots had the highest and second-highest rates of radiation-related cancer deaths, respectively. This finding held true even when considering cancers unrelated to radiation.

The primary source of radiation for these workers comes from cosmic radiation at high altitudes, where there is less shielding from the atmosphere. While this type of ionizing radiation can damage DNA and increase cancer risk, the study found that the amount of radiation accumulated over a career is not enough to significantly raise cancer risk above other occupations.

For example, a traveler who takes 10 cross-country round-trip flights a year is exposed to only about 0.4 millisieverts of radiation, compared to the 3 to 6 millisieverts per year that pilots and flight attendants are estimated to receive throughout their careers.

The study suggests that the workers who absorb the most radiation of any occupation in the country deserve the same basic protections as everyone else who works around radiation. Currently, U.S. pilots and flight attendants are subject to no federal dose limits or requirement for monitoring their exposure, unlike nuclear workers or European aircrew. While the findings do not determine the risk for individual crew members, they do indicate that these workers need the same protections as others who work with radiation.