Cosmic radiation · flight by flight

Every flight gives you
a dose of radiation.
FlightDose tells you
exactly how much.

At 38,000 feet you are above most of the atmosphere that shields you from cosmic rays. FlightDose runs the FAA's CARI‑7 model against your real route, your cruise altitude and the day's space weather — then turns the answer into a number that actually means something.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play

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

What's inside

A dosimeter for people
who don't own a dosimeter.

Everything below ships in the app. No subscription, no paywall on the science.

The FAA's own model

CARI‑7 was built by the FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute to compute the dose received by aircraft occupants. FlightDose doesn't approximate it — it runs it, on the server, for your route.

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 — "Peru Trip", "Q3 commuting" — and see each one's share.

Comparisons you can picture

“0.0412 mSv” means nothing on its own. The app translates it — dental X‑rays, chest X‑rays, a day of natural background, a CT scan — so you can file it somewhere sensible in your head.

Limits that mean something

Your cumulative dose is tracked against the FAA's 20 mSv occupational 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

Three taps to a number.

You already know your flight. That's all the app needs.

  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.

    38,000 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 — saved to your history, compared, and counted toward your annual total.

    0.0000mSv

    JFK → LHR · 38,000 ft · Kp 4.7

The science

Not all flights are equal.

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

Latitude

Earth's magnetic field funnels charged particles toward the poles and deflects them near the equator. A polar route can carry roughly twice the dose rate of an equatorial one at the same altitude.

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. Climbing from the low thirties to the mid forties can push the dose rate up several‑fold on the same route.

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.

R2Radio blackoutModerate
S1Solar radiationMinor
G2GeomagneticModerate
Kp4.7planetary index

Perspective

Where a flight actually 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.
Pregnant travellersLower advisory limits apply. Bring a real number to the conversation with your doctor.
The merely curiousMost occasional trips are a rounding error against background radiation. It's still nice to see the rounding error.
FlightDose app icon

Find out what your
last flight cost you.

Free to download. Log a flight, get a dose, keep the log. Nothing about you is sold, ever.

Download on theApp Store Get it onGoogle Play