Do geomagnetic storms affect planes?

Asked by tan235 (877

) March 11th, 2011

I’ve just been reading about the sunspot activity at the moment and how it could be creating more earthquakes.
Can it affect planes?
Can they bring planes down or is the risk to radiation stronger?
Curious as I have to fly quite a lot this year.

Thanks

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4 Answers

“and the radiation from the flares can give passengers in airplanes a dose of radiation equivalent to a medical X-ray.”

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marinelife (62485

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It can affect communication and re-route them.
I wouldn’t worry unless you are doing over the pole flights.

blueiiznh (16698

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As @blueiiznh said, it messes with the radio and communication/tracking devices, which means the pilot will lose sense of where the plane is headed.It also messes with the plane’s weather monitoring system, the plane sometimes is unable to clearly work out the air tempreture and the kind of weather conditions it is headed towards…
Hope this helps : )

MilkyWay (13745

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That’s all fairly dangerous isn’t it – what will do they do to combat this?
Can they do anything?

tan235 (877

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