About FlightRadiation
An independent tool that computes your cosmic radiation dose from the flights you actually take, using the FAA's own CARI-7 model. Not the FAA, not the ICRP, not a medical practice.
Who runs this
Reviewed 4 September 2026 · Contact: hello@flightradiation.com
This is an independent, self-funded project, not a research institute and not a company with a laboratory behind it. Nobody here is a licensed physician, a radiation protection officer, or an aviation safety regulator, and nothing on this site is medical advice.
What that means in practice is that you should not take our word for the numbers, and you do not have to. The physics is not ours: the dose model is the FAA's CARI-7, the cutoff rigidity grid is the one distributed with it, and the solar data is the FAA's published monthly series. All of it is free and public. We have put our figures next to the FAA's own published route doses on the validation page, with instructions for reproducing either column yourself. That is a better basis for trusting a number than a biography.
Why this exists
The FAA has long published a public web calculator for flight dose. As of September 2026 it is unavailable, and its own page says so. The European equivalents have gone the same way: EPCARD's public calculator returns a 404 and its domain does not resolve, and Seibersdorf's AVIDOS public mode has been withdrawn. What remains is CARI-7 as a Windows and Linux download, with no macOS build, aimed at people who already know what a heliocentric potential is.
So the gap this fills is a working calculator that takes a whole year of flights rather than one sector, uses the solar conditions for the months you actually flew, and returns the answer with the comparisons that make a microsievert figure mean something.
How the money works
One thing, one price: a $9 PDF. No subscription, no upsell, no advertising, and your email is not sold or added to a list. We take no sponsorship from airlines, manufacturers, or anyone else with a stake in what the dose numbers say.
What we will not tell you
- We do not give medical advice. We will not tell you not to fly, or that a dose is dangerous. We will tell you what the number is, how uncertain it is, and which professional is qualified to advise on individual risk.
- We do not certify aircrew dose for regulatory purposes. Operators run their own dosimetry programs. These reports are for individuals and are not a substitute for one.
- We are not endorsed by anyone. The FAA, ICRP, NCRP, ACOG and NOAA are cited as sources. None of them has reviewed, approved or endorsed this site.
- We do not model solar particle events. They are rare, but during a major one a single high-latitude flight can carry a large dose. The report covers ordinary galactic background only, and says so.
What this site does not cover
- Spaceflight. Above the civil aviation ceiling the physics changes and different codes apply.
- Military aviation. Sustained high-altitude and supersonic profiles sit outside the civil route envelope this is built for.
- Airport scanners. Backscatter and millimeter-wave scanner doses are trivial next to flight dose and are well covered elsewhere.
- Cabin air quality, ozone, jet lag. Real subjects, different topic.
Getting it wrong
If you find an error, a wrong threshold, a misattributed citation, a route that does not reproduce, email hello@flightradiation.com. Factual corrections are logged publicly on the corrections page, and if a model error affected a report you paid for, we will reissue it.