How do reindeer fly? How does Santa deliver gifts? NORAD answers kids’ Christmas questions
He’s not deterred by wind, or snow, or rain, and he doesn’t file a flight plan, but that doesn’t mean Santa is undetected as he journeys around the globe delivering gifts.
In fact, NORAD, or the North American Aerospace Defence, knows exactly where he is at all times. That’s because for the last 69 years, the military unit has been tracking his whereabouts on Christmas Eve, making sure he gets his job done safely.
The annual tradition dates back to 1955. It all started with a misprint in a newspaper, a phone call to a top secret phone line, and a good natured Colonel at the Continental Air Defence Command in Colorado.
Since then, it has grown to include thousands of volunteers, and hundreds of thousands of phone calls from kids wanting to know more about Santa’s journey and when he will be arriving at their home.
With decades of experience, the Santa Trackers at NORAD know a lot about the jolly old elf, including Brig. Gen. Maurizio D. Calabrese. He is the Director of Intelligence and Information NORAD and he answered questions from Grade 1 and 2 students at Range Lake North School in Yellowknife.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
Ella Wright, Grade 1: If Santa is in danger how do they save him?
Santa is the greatest aviator the world has ever known. So he is actually never really in danger at all. But if he were, we do keep track of Santa with our radars and our satellites and our fighter aircraft. And so in Canada, some of the Canadian pilots might be using F-18s and they come up alongside Santa and tip their wings at him. He always gives us a wave and a nod so we know that he’s OK. Because again, nobody can really keep up with Santa. But you can rest assured he will be safe and he’ll make it to your house as long as you’re asleep between 9 p.m. and midnight.
Leo Leask, Grade 2: How does Santa get around the world in one night?
We don’t think Santa observes time the same way we do, but we are able to keep track of him all the way through his world flight. We pick him up with the North warning system radars in Canada’s backyard up North. He takes off from the North Pole there, heads over the international dateline and starts moving west across the Pacific sort of in a zigzag, and he then comes back over North America. Our fighters might pick him up, but the easiest way we keep track of Santa is Rudolph’s shiny red nose. It comes out so bright with the infrared signal to our satellites that we use every day at NORAD that we’re able to see where he is.
Bryson Bloss-Lovely, Grade 1: How does Santa deliver presents in one second?
Santa is not only the greatest aviator in the world, he’s also the greatest logistician, or the person who brings supplies. He’s been doing this for hundreds of years. He knows how to do it to make sure that he puts them under the tree when you’re sleeping and you won’t even know it.
Amaya Unrau, Theo Yorke and Aurora Forget are all in Grade 2 and all had questions about the reindeer. They wondered how they fly if they don’t have wings, how they carry Santa and how they stay up all night and not get tired.
I have to be honest, Santa does keep some of his operations classified, and we’re not ever going to really truly know. But one thing that I believe is that the reindeer keep going because a lot of children like to put out carrots or other goodies for Santa to feed them, and also to feed Santa with the cookies and milk and things like that. It takes a lot of energy to fly around the world in one night. As for the reindeer though, it’s the magic of Christmas Eve that makes them able to fly without wings.
With files from Meghan Roberts
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: Photos: Yellowknife gets a visit from ‘Sled-dog Santa’ CBC News
Finland: Santa Claus departs from Lapland, Yle News
