Cosmic radiation · flight by flight

How much radiation
was on your flight?
See your estimate.

Add your flight. See its estimated dose, compare it with everyday exposures, and keep a running total of your flying history.

Free to download on iOS & Android.
In-app purchases available. See app options.

FAA CARI‑7 model Live NOAA space weather iOS & Android

Before you download

Free to download.
Extra tools with Premium.

The app includes ads and offers in-app purchases. On iOS, an optional Premium subscription adds flight-number lookup, bulk trip import, a dose globe, and an ad-free experience.

Fly often? Premium's lookup fills in your route, altitude, and flight time from a flight number and date. Bulk import helps you add a whole trip.

Check your store listing for current pricing and features on your platform.

Start with your last flight.

Get a dose estimate you can understand, then keep your flights together in one place.

Download on the App Store Get it on Google Play
How the estimates are calculated →

What's inside

One flight is a number.
Your flying history tells the story.

For frequent flyers, aircrew, and anyone curious about their last trip: understand each flight and see how your total adds up.

The FAA's own model

FlightDose runs the FAA's CARI‑7 model to estimate radiation dose along a modeled route. These are estimates, not measurements. FlightDose is an independent app, not endorsed by the FAA.

Live space weather

Kp index, the NOAA R/S/G storm scales and active SWPC alerts are pulled continuously. When a solar radiation storm is in progress, the app says so before you fly the pole.

Route, latitude, altitude

Great‑circle path between your two airports, the geomagnetic latitude it crosses, and the cruise altitude you set on a slider. Change any one and watch the number move.

Your whole flying history

Every flight you log is kept, totalled by year and lifetime, and charted month by month. Bundle legs into trip groups like "Peru Trip" or "Q3 commuting" and see each one's share.

Comparisons you can picture

“0.0265 mSv” means nothing on its own. The app translates it into dental X‑rays, chest X‑rays, days of natural background or CT scans, so you can file it somewhere sensible in your head.

Limits that mean something

Your cumulative dose is tracked against the 20 mSv a year the FAA recommends as an aircrew limit, the 1 mSv public limit, and any personal ceiling you set, with a bar that turns amber, then red.

Achievements

Poles crossed, oceans hopped, milestones passed. A quiet layer of collectables on top of your log book, because tracking exposure shouldn't feel like homework.

Watch the sun itself

NOAA SWPC imagery, in‑app and animated: SUVI 195Å and 304Å, the LASCO C3 coronagraph catching CMEs, and the 24‑hour aurora forecast.

Your units, your call

Millisieverts, microsieverts or millirem. Pick one in settings and every screen in the app follows, down to the decimal places.

How it works

From your flight to a dose estimate.

Enter your flight details manually, or use flight lookup with Premium on iOS.

  1. 01

    Pick your airports

    Search by IATA code, city or airport name. FlightDose draws the great‑circle route between them and works out the geomagnetic latitudes you'll actually cross.

    JFK
    JFK John F. Kennedy Intl New York, US
    JFA Jofane Mozambique
  2. 02

    Set your cruise altitude

    Slide from the low thirties to the high forties. Every thousand feet strips away more of the atmosphere that's been absorbing cosmic rays on your behalf.

    35,000 ft

    28,000 ft45,000 ft

  3. 03

    Watch it lock in

    The server runs CARI‑7 with the day's solar conditions. The counter ticks like a Geiger tube while it works, then settles on your dose. It's saved to your history, compared, and counted toward your annual total.

    0.0265mSv

    JFK → LHR · 35,000 ft · Aug 2026

The science

How much radiation do you get on a flight? It depends on the route.

Two things dominate your dose: how high you fly, and how far from the equator. FlightDose accounts for both.

Latitude

Earth's magnetic field funnels charged particles toward the poles and deflects them near the equator. At 35,000 ft in August 2026, the dose rate near the poles is 3.3 times the rate near the equator. See the map →

90°N 45°N 0° 45°S 90°S JFK LHR

lower dose ratehigher dose rate

Altitude

The atmosphere is your shield, and there's less of it the higher you go. On a New York to London flight, climbing from 31,000 ft to 41,000 ft multiplies the dose rate by 2.

And then there's the sun

Space weather moves the number.

A solar radiation storm can raise dose rates at altitude for hours, and polar routes feel it first. FlightDose watches the NOAA scales so the calculation reflects the sky you're actually flying through. How solar storms affect flights →

R2Radio blackoutModerate
S1Solar radiationMinor
G2GeomagneticModerate
Kp4.7planetary index

Popular routes

Cosmic radiation on popular flights.

The FAA's CARI-7 model, run for a standard flight on each route at 35,000 ft with the solar conditions of August 2026. Every direction has its own page.

All 44 route pages The dose-rate map

Perspective

Is the radiation from flying a lot? Where a flight sits.

Typical effective doses, in millisieverts. Most travellers land nowhere near a limit, but you deserve to know that, not assume it.

Who should actually be watching this?

Frequent flyersA hundred segments a year adds up in a way a single boarding pass never suggests.
AircrewThe FAA treats you as occupationally exposed. This is your running total between company reports. Aircrew limits →
Pregnant travellersLower advisory limits apply. Bring a real number to the conversation with your doctor. Flying while pregnant →
The merely curiousMost occasional trips are a rounding error against background radiation. It's still nice to see the rounding error.
FlightDose app icon

How much radiation did your
last flight expose you to?
Find out.

Estimate your next flight. Keep your history. See how it adds up.
Free to download on iOS and Android, with in-app purchases available.

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