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Tracking Santa Military uses advanced technology to keep tabs on Santa's sleigh on Christmas Eve; Yellowknife expected to be among last stops on international routeLaura Busch Northern News Services Published Monday, December 24, 2012
For the 57th year, North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will be tracking Santa and his team of reindeer as they make their way around the world in a single night. "We really are best suited to watch Santa on Christmas Eve because our job is to track everything that's in the airspace over North America," Royal Canadian Navy Lt. Alain Blondin told Yellowknifer from NORAD's official Santa Tracker headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado. "Anything that could become a threat, our job is to identify it and take action as necessary." However, there is no risk that Santa will be deemed a threat. While Santa does not share his route with NORAD ahead of time - military equipment picks up the sleigh once the team takes off from the North Pole - he generally visits Yellowknife late in his trip as he makes his way home, said Blondin. That means that little Yellowknifer girls and boys can expect Santa to visit very late on Christmas Eve. However, Blondin cautions children not to wait up for him, because Santa's own special operating procedure dictates that he will not stop at a house where someone is awake. "That seems to stop the magic," he said. Blondin went on to explain how NORAD tracks Santa and his sleigh. NORAD has a well-equipped defense system with bases all over North America.. They also have radar that track everything heading towards the continent, and satellites that monitor from above using infrared cameras, he said. "Using that technology, we can actually track the infrared signature of Rudolph's nose," said Blondin, referring to the technology used to track Santa overseas. Santa tends to travel west after leaving his home at the North Pole, said Blondin, generally stopping in Asia first. Once he approaches North American airspace from the east later in the night, NORAD will scramble two CF-18 fighter planes out of Bagotville, Que., to flank Santa and help him on his journey. These planes will then be replaced by two other fighter jets out of Cold Lake, Alta., in a hand off, he said. "Personally, I think it's more of a show of respect for Santa than anything else," said Blondin, explaining why the jets flank St. Nick and his reindeer. "He has been doing this for 1,600 years. He has technology that's amazing. He actually has to slow down substantially for our CF-18s." In answer to the age-old questions about how it is possible for Santa to travel all the way around the world in a single night and how he gets into houses without chimneys, Blondin again had a simple answer: Santa works in his own time-space continuum. "You could call it high-tech, or you could call it magic," he said. NORAD has been tracking Santa every Christmas Eve since 1955, when a misprint in a Sears advertisement in Colorado Springs gave out the number of the then Continental Air Defense Command hotline, saying that it was a direct line to Santa. When Col. Harry Shoup answered the first call from a child inquiring about Santa, instead of saying it was the wrong number, he told the youngster Santa was not available but because of defense command's mission to track the skies he knew where Santa was. Once he got off the call, Shoup informed the rest of the staff working that Christmas Eve they could expect many similar calls and to play along, which they did and the tradition was born. Since that time, the NORAD Tracks Santa initiative has become significantly more high-tech. Along with taking phone calls, it also has a real-time route map available on its website and even takes video of the sleigh flying over major cities. During Christmas 2011, NORAD Tracks Santa personnel answered 102,000 phone calls and the website was viewed by 18.9 million unique visitors.
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