High above the earth, flight crews and passengers are exposed to something they cannot see and rarely consider: cosmic radiation. For most travelers, the dose from a single flight is small. But over time, especially across a career spent in the skies, those exposures accumulate, quietly adding up year after year.

This seven-month investigation examines internal documents, federal data, and scientific studies that point to a troubling reality. Continued exposure to elevated levels of cosmic radiation may carry serious health risks, and for the men and women who fly for a living, it is an everyday occupational hazard. Despite decades of research, this risk remains largely unregulated by the U.S. government.

Exposed

Exposed: How the FAA fails to protect flight crews from cosmic radiation exposure in the skies

For nearly three decades, 52-year old Sara Nelson has been exposed to radiation every time she goes to work — a risk shared by hundreds of thousands of her fellow aircrew members, many of whom say they were never told an alluring career in flying would regularly expose them to a known health hazard.
Exposed

The Pentagon Confirms the Risk. Military Aviators Still Lack Protections

For nearly 40 years, Rodolfo LLobet was a pilot — first in the military, then for a commercial airline — spending more than half his life in the cockpit.