In episode two, Allen discusses some of the unique lightning protection technology that's now found on aircraft, including new materials--such as woven wire carbon fiber--that can help protect from lightning strikes.

8:32 How carbon fiber disperses lightning energy

Transcript

Dan: Welcome back! This is episode two of the Struck Podcast. I am your co-host Dan Blewett. I'm here visited remotely by lightning protection expert and CEO of Weather Guard Lightning Tech, Allen Hall. Allen what's going on?

Allen: Hey Dan, how's it going there in Washington DC? Are you guys getting some sunny weather down there finally?

Dan: It was beautiful today. I'm going to go run later.  I try to run in straight lines on the sidewalk till I see a human, then take a sharp left into traffic to avoid them breathing on me or me breathing on them.  

Allen: What's the etiquette rules there when you approach someone running the opposite way? Does everybody just go to their right? Do they do the opposite in the UK? How does that work?

Dan: I subconsciously hold my breath. I've noticed myself doing it like I don't want to breathe your air in, don't breathe my air. Everyone keep your air to yourself. Also you can see the subtle movements of people starting to get out of your way. Sometimes it's not subtle and that's fine, no one's getting offended. I think people are friendlier. I think I'm  giving people a nod, people are making eye contact with me. We're all like “hey, thanks for staying six feet away”. We appreciate each other. There's honestly a vibe from that, which isn't surprising. I feel like most Americans and most people around the world right now know that we are in this together. We understand the rules. I'm going to stay away from you out of respect, and you do the same. There is that kind of feeling here in the city, which I think is kind of nice. There's a little bit of a neighborly feel to it, which is good.

Allen: Well, you're kind of in an epicenter as we keep hearing on the news.

Dan: We’re a very diverse city, the capital of the United States. But we don't have any cases yet, which is good. It seems like it's only in the three hundreds.

Allen: Well that's not bad for a city of that size quite honestly. New York City is really taking the brunt of it right now. The cases there are scary.

Dan: DC--I don't know the population here but--it's not a big city. There's a huge metro area, like it's an epicenter. The traffic is disproportionately large to the population, but I think there's only maybe a 700,000 DC population.

Allen: Officially in the district, is that what it is? It's not a very large area.

Dan: It's a very walkable city. Kind of like a three mile radius, it's nothing like Chicago which was  my epicenter living in Illinois the last ten years. Chicago is very big, and of course New York is so much bigger than that. It's been interesting.

Allen: Are people wearing masks down there? Have you seen anybody jogging with a mask? Or is it pretty much keeping your distance. Cause I’ve seen more  masks in the last three or four days than I've seen in a long time.

Dan: What about you? You're up in the wilderness. It's beautiful up where you are in Williamstown, but what's your situation? Do you guys have a good amount of masks or a little bit?

Allen: It's weird. We're so sparse out here that people that are running around are mostly without masks. When I saw one the other day I thought “wow that's unusual”.