Patrolling the Skies for Dangerous Reindeer

As some of you may be aware late on December 24th the skies of North America will be invaded by a jolly man dressed in a red suit with a few flying reindeer. In case you were worried that this nefarious man might invade our territory without anyone noticing I direct you to NORAD's Santa site.

First, you might want to check out this video on how this worked last year:

Then, you might want to stroll over to the Countdown Village to while away some precious hours until he arrives and the jets come out.

Jets? Who said anything about jets? Well, Santa does not file a flight plan ahead of time, so the following protocol is followed: "Canadian NORAD fighter pilots flying the CF-18 intercept and welcome Santa to North America. In the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15, F-16 or the F-22 get the thrill of flying alongside Santa and his famous reindeer: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and, of course, Rudolph."

Finally, when the time arrives for the big flight, you can use Google Earth to track Santa's movements so you don't have to worry about him catching you unprepared. If you want to learn how or just want to watch Santa's movements on a web page, check out NORAD's tracking page.

Now for those adults who want to know more about NORAD I encourage you to check out their web site. If you want to know the technical details on this project, such as how many tax dollars are used, check out the FAQ. Finally, if you want to learn a bit more about Homeland Security, check out the library's guide.