Russian customs official at the border with Finland recently prevented a US-manufactured aircraft from being brought into the country after getting some rather uncomfortable radiation readings while inspecting the plane.
According to a press release issued by Vyborg customs authorities, a “Starduster” light aircraft built in the 1960s in the United States was first shipped in a disassembled state from Florida to the Finnish port city of Kotka, and the plane’s owner, a Russian national, then attempted to transport it to his home country by car.
However, a customs inspection detected increased levels of ionizing radiation emanating from the plane’s cockpit, with a subsequent investigation revealing that the plane’s pilot would get a “yearly dose of radiation” if they were to stay in the cockpit for just 10 to 12 hours.
This radiation hazard was apparently a result of some of the plane’s parts containing traces of radium-226 which was used as a component of radioluminiscent paint, which was used to coat instrument dials until the 1970s.
As the plane’s owner lacked the papers necessary to bring radioactive materials into the country, he was barred from transporting the aircraft across the border.
