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)

Version 2 of Santa’s sleigh continues to test. North Pole Flight Command reports the test flights continue today over the west coast of Australia. But a critical marker in the build schedule of the actual sleigh Santa will fly on Christmas Eve has been marked.

Even though Santa and Mrs. Claus are not at the North Pole at the moment builders in the Sleigh Department are moving forward with building Santa’s actual sleigh.

Elf Quinton Q. Quigley, head of Research and Development at the North Pole, authorized moving forward on the project.

“This build needs time,” Elf Quinton said. “With the two-month mark until Christmas approaching, we need to get things together. So I’m moving forward based on Santa’s latest feedback and the approval of Mrs. Claus given to us when she was last here.”

Meanwhile, a test flight schedule for the month of November is being discussed right now in North Pole Flight Command.

We will keep you posted.

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)

Test flights of Santa’s sleigh are going so well that designers in the Sleigh Department agree that a newer version is not needed at this time. The sleigh has been on Version 2 for months.

It is typical for the sleigh design to be tweaked up to ten times or more before a new sleigh is completed for Santa’s flight. Like this year, the test flights begin in June and run the rest of the year right up until December 23rd in order to make it ready for Santa.

Over the course of that timeline new versions of the sleigh are announced as improvements are made.

But no significant improvements to this latest sleigh design have been found. The sleigh has continued to steadily perform better and better in test flights.

“If Santa were to take off on his annual trek right now – in the current version of the sleigh – we are confident he would break the 30-hour flight time record that he seeks,” said Elf Quinton Q. Quigley, head of Research and Development at the North Pole.

But just because the test flights are going so well does not mean they will end any time soon. Elf Roger Star, Director of North Pole Flight Command, said the test flight schedule will continue as planned right up until Santa’s flight time. They will continue to look for improvements that could be made.

Test flights have recently concentrated on Sector 1, South East Asian areas of Sector 2 and now is on the east coast of Africa in Sector 3. Trackers note that the sleigh recently has covered larger areas as speed trials continue.

The test flight reindeer team of nearly 5,000 reindeer are not tiring of the pace. While they have been at work for months Santa’s A-team of reindeer and other reindeer who work in support of Operation Merry Christmas have yet to check in for the season at the North Pole.

They are expected back at the North Pole at any time.

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)

Santa’s sleigh Version 2, as reported earlier, continues to perform very well. As a result, the next step in modification of Santa’s sleigh includes customizations Santa himself has ordered.

These changes are considered mostly cosmetic and will likely not affect the speed or performance of Santa’s sleigh.

Santa communicated by Zoom call this week with designers in the Sleigh Department to finalize decisions on the look of the sleigh.

The sleigh this year will be a traditional red with gold pin stripes. In a surprise move, Santa ordered heavy chrome trim for the runners, both side tops and to front and rear facings.

North Pole Security voiced immediate concerns about how these highly reflective finishes will affect the visibility of Santa’s sleigh in the skies, especially from a distance.

Santa rejected those concerns.

Tech designers objected to the added weight the chrome will give the sleigh.

Test flights this week over Sector 5 were flown with the estimated addition of representative weight these new chrome elements and no performance concerns were raised during the test.

In a surprise bit of news Santa asked for the final cosmetic changes of the sleigh to be ready “before Thanksgiving”. This is about a month before Santa flies and far earlier than normal.

We will keep you posted on additional changes to Santa’s sleigh.

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)

Santa’s new sleigh is in the test flight stage. As is custom, the Sleigh Design Department makes several sleighs as year as test pilots continue to refine how the sleigh performs. So far this year there have only been 2 versions of the sleigh.

By this point in most years we are usually up to about Version 5 of the sleigh. But both pilots and designers are saying Version 2 of the sleigh has proven to be so stable and efficient they haven’t been able to find corrections to make in months.

Presently, Santa’s sleigh is in test flights over Asia. Tracker elves can follow the progress of Santa’s sleigh at Santa Trackers.net.

Elf Quinton Q. Quigley, head elf of the Research and Development Department at the North Pole, says he has reached out to Santa with a progress report in hopes of stepping up the test flight schedule. There are new features – usually more cosmetic in nature that do not affect performance – that require test flights as well. Customarily these tweaks are held to the last minute in the days before Santa takes off. Quinton wants to implement those changes now because the sleigh is doing so well.

Flight Analysts at North Pole Flight Command are already working on simulated flight scenarios as they begin working the flight plan. They say that with such great performance from the sleigh and all the extra time for advanced planning the possibility of Santa setting an all time speed record this year is very high.

The test flights will continue – there is no reason to stop them – until well after the scheduled return of Santa’s reindeer to the North Pole. After they do return it is possible those reindeer may be embedded into the test flight reindeer teams for advanced flight training for reindeer. Those plans, however, cannot be implemented until those reindeer return.

We will keep you posted as those developments happen.