Elf News Reporter at North Pole News Network
Elf Meg graduated from Southern North Pole University with a degree in journalism. For several years she was a star reporter for the North Pole Gazette and then briefly served as a producer for North Pole Radio News. She brings her experience in media to North Pole Flight Command, serving as both an Elf News Reporter for North Pole Radio News and Managing Editor of North Pole Flight Command.com
Elf Meg Nogg
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Just 300 days remain now until Santa’s launch. North Pole Flight Command continues to work towards a successful flight again this year.

Santa’s sleigh will again be built from the ground up but it will utilize the same design as a year ago. As a result, test flights for Santa’s sleigh will be delayed until later in the year.

Flight Command has scouts in the field right now searching for good locations to set up regional tracking centers in each sector. There is no particular hurry for this project either. Right now, scouts are taking recommendations and looking at possible locations. Contracts are expected to be signed and locations finalized by Christmas in July.

Christmas in July is likewise an important time for Flight Command. While there are a number of fun recreational events, including the radio replay of Santa’s flight from last Christmas, it is also a big marker on the calendar for nearly every North Pole Department.

At flight command training will be taking place for sleigh flight controllers, test pilots and even reindeer during Christmas in July. Likewise, all equipment overhauls and testing is supposed to be complete.

For Tracker Elves worldwide, who gather online at SantaTrackers.net, the all new Elf University will be launched by then and trackers will be training heavily during Christmas in July.

Elf News Reporter at North Pole News Network
Elf Meg graduated from Southern North Pole University with a degree in journalism. For several years she was a star reporter for the North Pole Gazette and then briefly served as a producer for North Pole Radio News. She brings her experience in media to North Pole Flight Command, serving as both an Elf News Reporter for North Pole Radio News and Managing Editor of North Pole Flight Command.com
Elf Meg Nogg
Latest posts by Elf Meg Nogg (see all)

New regional tracking centers for each sector are now being considered. This is an annual process that will see regional tracking centers placed in strategic locations around the world. The process began last week when elf supervisors submitted their review of last year’s locations. Recommendations from these same supervisors for new locations for this year are due in the weeks ahead.

Regional tracking centers are operated by the North Pole for several reasons.

They serve as a back up to North Pole Flight Command. Should some sort of emergency occur at the North Pole that would knock flight command offline any one of the regional tracking centers or ships of the North Pole Navy can assume control of Santa’s Christmas Eve operations.

Regional tracking centers take responsibility for all sleigh flight activity within their assigned sector. They watch the skies in details and help to direct air traffic to ensure a safe and expeditious route for Santa.

Regional tracking centers also collect and transmit data from all North Pole tracking elves in the sector and organize that information and communication for Flight Command. This critical flow of real-time information is critical to Santa’s flight.

Regional tracking centers as well dispatch any kind of assistance that Santa needs while in the sector. They keep his sleigh loaded with the right freight, coordinating their efforts to move presents around through a complex flight support system.

The locations of the regional tracking centers must meeting rigorous location standards. They need uninterruptible power supplies and rock-steady internet access. They need to be safe from the interruptions of weather and natural disasters. Sometimes their locations are hotly debated, such as last year’s location in Bethlehem, New Zealand for Sector 1. Some elves felt the seismic activity in that area of New Zealand put operations at risk.

Regional tracking center locations tend to be top secret. Only a select few know the actual physical location of each tracking center. They tend to occupy windowless buildings that are large enough to house the sleeping quarters, kitchens and recreational requirements for the teams of elves assigned to those locations. Since a tracking center can hold thousands of elves who usually never leave the building over their course of their seasonal service the buildings need to be quite large.

Months go into the process of site selection and setup. Usually regional tracking centers are operational only from Halloween through New Year’s Day, though last year all were active in June to support the rigorous test flight schedule of Santa’s sleigh.

We will keep you posted on the progress of this year’s new regional tracking center locations.

Elf News Reporter at North Pole News Network
Elf Meg graduated from Southern North Pole University with a degree in journalism. For several years she was a star reporter for the North Pole Gazette and then briefly served as a producer for North Pole Radio News. She brings her experience in media to North Pole Flight Command, serving as both an Elf News Reporter for North Pole Radio News and Managing Editor of North Pole Flight Command.com
Elf Meg Nogg
Latest posts by Elf Meg Nogg (see all)

A new sleigh will be built for Santa in 2022 but it will re-use the design developed last year, it was announced today.

Santa’s record-breaking flight from last Christmas is largely the reason for this decision. Santa met with design teams and flight analysts over the past several weeks to discuss the sleigh’s flaws and room for improvement. It was decided that the sleigh performed at such a high level that not many design changes would be needed.

That means the plans and the timeline for the development of Santa’s new sleigh for 2022 will be very different than in year’s past.

Last year, the first four months of the year were busy with design prototypes. Santa and the Research and Development Department spent so much time evaluating different designs that a test flight schedule had to be started in early June. That will not be necessary this year.

While a new test flight schedule has not yet been set it is expected that test flights of Santa’s sleigh for 2022 will begin much later this year.

We will keep you posted of the details of construction of Santa’s new sleigh. In the meantime, Santa’s sleigh from last year has been moved to the North Pole Sleigh Museum. Visitors will be able to see the new sleigh exhibit beginning in March.