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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In an usual turn of events all top elves at North Pole Flight Command have been summoned for a meeting on Saturday. Saturday marks one week until Christmas Eve.

The test flights of Santa’s sleigh are usually more or less over by now. The tracker map at SantaTrackers.net presently shows the test flights over the UK. It is unknown where they are headed next.

It is unlikely that High Command will be discussing the sleigh’s flight plan. The test flight operations team takes care of that detail and it is based upon how the sleigh is responding and in weather conditions that it needs to be tested in.

Rumors have run rampant at the North Pole, especially in Flight Command, that the sleigh has either a 12th version that will be tested or even that the sleigh itself will be retired and taken up again next season.

If that were to happen, Santa does have a backup plan. Though classified, it is assumed by most that Santa would use the record-setting sleigh from last year as his vehicle of choice for this season.

We remind you that these are just rumors. As far as we officially know, the current version of the sleigh is the one Santa will use and that test flights have been satisfactory.

Will Santa be involved in Saturday’s meeting? That is information we do not presently know.

We will keep you updated.

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)

The other day we announced via SantaUpdate.com the release of Version 10 of Santa’s sleigh. Today we announce that Version 11 of the sleigh is already under construction.

This is not an unusual event. Santa’s sleigh gets many versions as we conduct test flights. Each version is designed to be better than the last.

Santa’s sleigh will continue test flights over North America this week and then will head toward the South Pacific in Sector 1 for a while. Night flights and various weather conditions will determine the ultimate flight plans and locations each day.

With Santa’s launch a little more than 3 weeks away Flight Command is now working around the clock to be ready.

Santa’s sleigh is not the only sleigh that will be in the sky that night. This week, officials in Flight Command meet to determine the sleigh needs for Operation Airlift. We will tell you about that in our next report.

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)

Thanksgiving is a major celebration at the North Pole and all personnel associated with the test flights of Santa’s sleigh are coming home to take a break and celebrate the day. This happened at Halloween as well. All test pilots, reindeer, engineers and designers are expected home no later than November 23rd.

The sleigh, as of this date, is officially somewhere in Mexico and has been pushing north for several days.

When those crews return they will be piloting version #9 of Santa’s sleigh.

Per policy, we cannot disclose technical details or differences in each version of the sleigh. It is quite normal for a new sleigh design to go through several versions during the testing process.

A good break from test flights give the reindeer opportunity to rest up and for teams to gather together to compare notes before heading back out to continue testing the 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)

Version 8 of Santa’s Sleigh will head into Sector 5 direct from the North Pole this morning.

It is not known how long the sleigh will be in Sector 5 or where precisely it is headed. We are not even sure how long Version 8 of this year’s sleigh will be flown. We have been told that versions 9 and 10 are nearly ready to go.

After the Halloween break it is hoped by many that we get better news coming from the test flight teams. So far designers and engineers have been stymied by mysterious problems. As they have tried to work through them the sleigh has seemed to developed problems in areas where there were no problems before. This is especially surprising since this year’s design is based on last year’s sleigh, which was used in a record setting run by Santa.

Test teams are not prepared to answer our questions about this year’s sleigh. Normally we could share news of what the test flights were doing but this year it is a different story.

We are hoping for good news soon. Designers, engineers and test pilots are weary of having to report discouraging news all the time.

For the record, Santa himself says he is not worried about the sleigh. He has expressed confidence in the development team in figuring things out so that this year’s flight can be successful.