It’s only early December,  but the Voodoo Flight crew in the Sgt. David L. Pitcher Building at CFB North Bay is prepping for arguably the most important mission of the year.  

The 21 Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron is training for December 24, when they will play a huge role in assisting and escorting Santa Claus across Canadian airspace.  

This year, the NORAD crews got a special surprise as Kris Kringle made a secret pre-Christmas journey to the facility in North Bay to meet the men and women who will be tracking his exciting journey.  

Canadian and American members of NORAD have been tracking Santa’s Journey since 1955 from various locations in both countries.

Lieutenant Hillary Hamilton is part of the Voodoo Flight Crew, which will complete the important tracking mission on December 24.  

“It is my first time this year, and I am really honoured and excited,” she told BayToday. 

“The mission is similar to what we do every day. We protect North America 365 days a year. But the team wants to make sure to execute properly on the 24th of December, so we continuously train for this mission.” 

This year, the NORAD techs on duty will be tasked to locate and track Santa on December 24 using radars, satellites and infrared sensors. Once he is identified within Canadian airspace, Santa and his sleigh will be escorted by RCAF CF-188 Hornet aircraft from both 3 Wing Bagotville, Que. and 4 Wing Cold Lake, Alta.

Hamilton says one of the big challenges for the crews is that Santa never files a flight plan for his important journey. 

“No, Santa does not file a flight plan, but he’s done this route for so long, and he’s made sure that he’s had the opportunity to go to every child’s house in North America and deliver their gifts safely. He definitely knows what he’s doing. And with our help here at the Canadian Air Defence Sector, we ensure that he has a safe flight and if there’s going to be any aircraft to interfere with the path that he’s flying, we’re going to make sure that we get them out of the way, whether that be us calling Santa on his sleigh and giving him a warning, or us scrambling the jets from one of our bases. We make sure that he has a very safe flight.”

Of course, this is not a new mission for NORAD,  but Lt. Hamilton is thrilled to be part of the crew in this special anniversary tracking year. 

“It means a lot to me, honestly, and knowing that it’s the 70th anniversary,” she said.

“It’s cool to see how long that we’ve been doing this and how our capabilities as an Air Force and as a base have changed and progressed over the years, and knowing that our equipment and our training and our personnel are only getting faster and stronger and better, makes me feel really confident in participating in this mission.”

Interested in tracking Santa’s journey on Christmas Eve? Do so by going to the NORAD website.