Santa Claus today joined a meeting of scouts who are in Flight Command today and tomorrow to receive instruction prior to leaving for field service.

The special elves are different from the Tracker Elves you read about at SantaTrackers.net. These are a special team of experienced elves who have served as field agents for flight command for decades.

There are 36 such elves. They leave soon for field assignments that will have them track Santa from ground level using special equipment to record flight data. In the past they have been referred to as “professional Santa trackers” but Santa has discouraged the use of that term in recent years.

As scouts there are sent to specific, and usually remote, locations that will fall directly beneath Santa’s anticipated flight path. In fact, both Santa and the Scouts carry synchronized beacons so that they can “find” each other when Santa flies. The idea is to provide data relative to Santa’s flight speed and altitude independent of any on board systems.

Scouts are also charged with reporting on special situations and circumstances. The nature of their missions are rarely, if ever, known outside of their department. Santa likely knows their missions but nobody else in Flight Command does.

Their meetings today and tomorrow are to discuss these special missions. Then the scouts will be dismissed to find their way to their assigned locations.

Occasionally one or more of these scouts get interviewed during the “Tracking Santa Around the World” radio broadcast that airs live on Kringle Radio. Their locations may be discussed briefly but their missions are never disclosed.

We will keep you posted on their activity, if they allow us.