Military pilots and ground crews showing high rates of cancer, Pentagon study reveals

There could be multiple reasons for the increased risk. Reading some of the comments, they hit some of the major possible reasons. Also fuel additives mixed into the exhaust of the jets could be an issue, or even some of the cleaning solution residues. It could take years to figure out what is causing the increased cancer risk, it could also be a combination of two different things synergetically increasing the risk...which is even harder to determine.

a reply to: rickymouse

Big thing in my opinion, they finally officially recognized the increased risk to aircrew and ground crew, thats a big step in the right direction.

Purely selfish reasons on my part, going through my first appeal with the VA, 15 months and counting. Next appointment with my PCM I will be bringing this up.

originally posted by: asabuvsobelow
There has to be massive amounts of Radiation coming off of these Aircraft .

The Radar systems and Communications systems alone are enough to cause issues .

So yeah this is not surprising , My time in the Military working around Radios they told us upfront there was a good chance we would be Sterile .

radios and radar? I was com nav.

Also, any studies of the interiors of these aircraft? What’s the composition of the chromates used in the paints, the ducting etc etc. military aircraft are pretty industrial when it comes to interiors or lack there of, you know, exposed wiring, ducting, etc etc.

originally posted by: network dude

originally posted by: asabuvsobelow
There has to be massive amounts of Radiation coming off of these Aircraft .

The Radar systems and Communications systems alone are enough to cause issues .

So yeah this is not surprising , My time in the Military working around Radios they told us upfront there was a good chance we would be Sterile .

radios and radar? I was com nav.

I was a 68W so I didn't work around Comms directly but none the less we were all around Radios consistently .

a reply to: asabuvsobelow

they called us cone heads. We would put out cones at 50 feet when we ran the radar on the ground. That was protocol, I hope it was enough distance.

a reply to: 38181

If I was a betting man, its ugly on a good day.

then figure in all the drilling and sanding that goes on in an enclosed space with no ventilation to speak of.

a reply to: network dude

I wouldnt stress over it, I was a FE on awacs for a about 600 flight hours, I stopped using my noise cancelling headset as soon as I realized what the buzzing sound was every 6-9 seconds, the radar sweeping the cockpit.

No way the distances quoted were actually safe for anyone that stayed longer than oh 10 years on the ramp.

a reply to: EternalShadow

I have flown both fixed and rotary wing aircraft. I suffer from spinal fusions and hearing loss due to my 12000 hours of military and civilian flying.

Helicopters are constantly shaking and are extremely loud even with ear protection. When I started flying in the military, they were more concern with crew protection from fire. We were restricted from wearing jungle boots while in Vietnam. We also wore Nomex flight suits to protect us from flash fires in the event of a crash. They were extremely hot in the jungle environment causing some heat injuries. Long periods of flying a loud shaking aircraft wasn't a concern of the military.

While flying as a civilian, you wound sit under huge windows of very thick glass while wearing short sleave shirts at high altitude (25k to 40k feet).