Kids of all ages are starting to get excited about Santa’s annual trip around the world. Santa Claus and his reindeer will launch the Santa One sleigh on Dec. 24 to stop at every good boy and girl’s house throughout the world to deliver a gift. This has been going on for 160 centuries.
The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) explains: “Long before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane or the Montgolfier brothers launched the first hot air balloon, Santa had to find a way to travel from house to house at great speed. We know from our Santa Cam images that Santa’s choice for quick transportation was a herd of flying reindeer.”
Technology is catching up to Santa, though. In 1955, NORAD started following Santa’s every move on Christmas Eve and answering phone calls and requests for updates of Santa’s progress. In 1998, NORAD launched the NORAD Tracks Santa website, so people from all over the world have access to Santa’s progress in real time. The good people at NORAD in Colorado Springs, Colo., volunteer their time each year to monitor Santa in four ways: radar, satellites, Santa Cams, and fighter jets.
A couple of years ago, we suggested that perhaps the time has come for Santa Claus to upgrade to a corporate jet. This assertion is based on improved standards for both comfort and safety. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) maintains that air traffic controllers can watch for Santa One thanks to retrofitting Rudolph’s red nose with state-of-the-art avionics and the implementation of NextGen.
This year, the FAA is suggesting that Santa consider a new approach to his annual journey: pre-shipping the gifts to airports all over the world and picking them up from there. This would help Santa One use less fuel because it would carry a lighter load, and NextGen capabilities allow for more direct descents and takeoffs, which will also conserve fuel. You can follow Santa’s Story every day in December.