The LogAloft blog
Cosmic radiation, flight safety, sleep and travel for pilots and passengers, with the numbers and the sources behind them.
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Cosmic radiation, explained: where it comes from, what the Sun does to it, and what you can do
What cosmic radiation is, why it's about a hundred times stronger at cruise than on the ground, why a busy Sun lowers it, when solar storms add to it, how it compares with medical imaging and a year as crew, and what actually reduces it.
Your career radiation dose: how it adds up and why to keep a record
A year of airline flying adds a few millisieverts and a career adds them up. What 30 years come to, what the ICRP estimates that means for risk, what European airlines must assess and record, and why a dose record of your own is worth keeping, especially in the US. With the sources behind each number.
Commuting to your base: fatigue, the rules and how to plan it
A commute adds hours to the first day of a trip that no duty limit counts. What the FAA and EASA say about commuting, what the Colgan 3407 investigation found, the 16-hour guide from the National Academies, and how to plan a commute with a backup and a bed at the end of it.
Flight duty limits explained: FAR 117 and EASA FTL in plain terms
How the FAA's Part 117 and EASA's ORO.FTL set the length of a duty day: the flight duty period tables by report time and segments, flight time limits, extensions, rolling totals and rest, with a step-by-step way to read your own duty day. Information, not legal advice, with links to the rule texts.
How LogAloft plans your rest
The two models behind every rest plan in LogAloft: a body clock driven by light, and the Three-Process Model of alertness that judges each sleep opportunity. How the plan shifts you across time zones, how much sleep it expects at each hour, why it protects sleep before an operating flight, the checks it runs on itself, meals, and what it can't promise.
How LogAloft works out your radiation dose
The model behind every dose in LogAloft. What it computes, the FAA's CARI-7A method and its inputs, where the route and cruise levels come from, how solar storms are handled, how sure the numbers are and how they compare with medical imaging. And what the app is not.
Pregnancy and flying: what the radiation numbers mean
What a flight adds to the dose of an unborn child, the limits that apply once a crew member declares a pregnancy, what studies of flight attendants found, and how to follow your own dose month by month. For crew and for passengers, with the guidance behind each number.
Red-eyes and your body clock: a practical guide for crews and passengers
A red-eye puts work or travel on top of your body's night. When alertness is lowest, how to nap before a night duty, when caffeine helps and when it costs you sleep, what light does on the way home, the cautions on melatonin, and how to recover afterward. With the rules and studies behind each point.
Getting around safely in a foreign city
Crew van, official taxi, ride-hailing app or the metro; the scams that target visitors; walking at night; hotel and fire safety; and what to do if you're robbed or arrested. Practical advice for crews on layovers and frequent travelers, taken from the US, UK and Canadian governments' own guidance.
Staying healthy on layovers
Dry cabin air and how much it really dehydrates you, blood clots on long flights and how to lower the risk, food and water abroad (and which stomach remedies pilots can fly with), UV in the cockpit and at the beach, insect repellents, travel vaccines, and moving enough between trips. With the CDC, WHO and FAA sources behind each point.
Lost passport, license or crew ID on a layover
What to do, step by step, when your passport, pilot certificate, medical or crew ID goes missing away from base: who to call first, the police report, an emergency passport from the embassy, the FAA's 60-day temporary authority and replacement medical, EASA and UK licenses, airport ID badges, and how to prepare so a loss costs hours instead of days.
Travel and taxes: what flight crews should know
How US tax law treats per diem, the special meal rate for the transportation industry ($80 a day in the continental US and $86 outside it, from October 1, 2026), why most W-2 crews can no longer deduct their own travel costs, which states can tax an airline crew member's pay, why the commute doesn't count, and how your logbook backs it all up. With the IRS and federal sources behind each point.
Rest is not sleep: what a crew rest period really gives you
Ten hours of rest can mean six hours of sleep. How the rules define rest, why sleep at the wrong time of your body's day is shorter, what a break in flight is worth, and how to plan a layover so the sleep actually happens. With the rules and studies behind each point.
Wet and contaminated runways: braking action, RCAM and the GRF
How runway condition codes, braking action reports and time-of-arrival landing assessments work, why wet runways are often worse than the data assumes, and what recent excursions show.
Laser strikes on aircraft: how often, what they do, what to do
FAA, UK and European laser-strike data through 2026, how a laser affects a pilot's vision on approach, the laws and penalties, and FAA-recommended crew actions.
Runway incursions after Haneda and Austin: what has changed
What the JTSB and NTSB found at Haneda, Austin, JFK and LaGuardia, how US runway incursion data has moved, and which ground and cockpit defenses exist as of October 2026.
Wind shear on the takeoff roll and the limits of V1
Why V1 can mislead when wind shear stalls airspeed on the takeoff roll, what the guidance and two investigations show, and a proposed groundspeed gate.
Unstable approaches: why crews land anyway, and what research says
Why most unstable approaches still end in a landing, what FSF, BEA, NASA and regulators found, why the go-around carries its own risks, and how crews can close the gap.
How the US stopped airline wind shear crashes, and what's left
The accidents, research and radars that ended US airline wind shear crashes after 1994, what the data show, and the gaps that remain in 2026.
Solar storms and your flight: what actually changes at 35,000 feet
Galactic cosmic rays, solar radiation storms and geomagnetic storms change a flight's dose in different ways. What NOAA, ICAO and the FAA say.
Lithium battery fires in the cabin: the data, the new power bank rules, and what to do
What FAA data shows on cabin battery fires, what investigators found after the Air Busan fire, the 2025-2026 power bank rules, and practical steps for passengers and crews.
Pilots and the new cancer study: what it shows and what it doesn't
A 2026 JAMA Internal Medicine study ranked pilots second of 503 US occupations for radiation-related cancer deaths. What it measured, and its limits.
Radio altimeters and 5G in 2026: the upper C-band auction and the next retrofit
How the 2022-2024 C-band fix worked, what the FCC and FAA decided in July 2026 on the upper C-band, the new radio altimeter deadlines, and what pilots should expect.
Jet lag east and west: what sleep science says for crews and travelers
Why flying east is harder than flying west, when light helps and when it hurts, and how crews on short layovers should sleep after a night flight. With the studies behind each point.
GPS jamming and spoofing: what line pilots should know in 2026
What the FAA, EASA, ICAO and IATA have published on GPS jamming and spoofing, where it happens, what it does to the airplane, and what to read.
Jeju Air 7C2216 and the runway end: what investigators and regulators have said
What Korean investigators, auditors and regulators have published on the Jeju Air 7C2216 crash at Muan, the localizer embankment, and the rules on runway end safety areas.
US air traffic control in 2025-2026: outages, staffing and the rebuild
The Newark outages, controller staffing numbers, the FAA's $12.5 billion rebuild and the new $30 billion request, flight caps, and what it all means on the line.
How much radiation do you get on a flight? Numbers for 14 routes
Cosmic radiation doses for 14 real routes, from Atlanta–Orlando to Chicago–Hong Kong, and the four things that change them.
Air India 171: what investigators have said, and what is still open
What India's AAIB, the FAA, DGCA and pilot groups have said about the Air India 171 accident, the fuel control switch questions and the recorder debate, as of September 2026.
Turbulence injuries: what the accident data shows and what is changing
What NTSB and FAA data say about turbulence injuries, who gets hurt and when, recent investigations, the climate research, and what regulators and airlines are doing.
Pilot mental health and your medical in 2026: what has changed
What the FAA has changed since its 2024 mental health rulemaking committee, where the Mental Health in Aviation Act stands, how Europe does it, and what pilots must report.
The DCA midair collision: what the NTSB found and what has changed since
What the NTSB found about the January 2025 collision near Washington National, what the FAA and Congress have done since, and what it means for airline crews.
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