In today’s North Pole Chat I discussed the recent crash of a test flight of Santa’s sleigh and just how those test flights work each year. Our guest was Elf Crash Murphy, Santa’s famed eye-in-the-sky reporter who just happens to know a lot about sleighs.

Crash talked about how he heard about the sleigh crash and just what happened with the test pilot and the reindeer of that flight.

Crash discussed why there are test flights of Santa’s sleigh and how they come about every year. It was a very insightful discuss about the inner-workings of sleigh flight at the North Pole – information you’ll find nowhere else. Here is a transcript of that discussion:

Elf Ernest	Our chat with Elf Crash Murphy will begin at the top of the hour.
Elf Ulan	Hello Elf Ernest!
Elf Ernest	Hi Elf Ulan!
Elf Ernest	It’s nice to have you here
Elf Ulan	Thank you! I’m glad to hear that
Elf Ernest	Crash should be here any minute.
Elf Ulan	Okay!
Elf Ulan	How are you?
Elf Ernest	Doing ok. It’s been a busy week. How are things with you?
Crash Murphy	Well, well…I’m one minute early!
Elf Ernest	Hi Crash!
Crash Murphy	Hi Ernest
Elf Ulan	Hi Elf Crash!
Crash Murphy	Doesn’t look like much of a crowd here today. But Elf Ulan is here and that’s all I need!
Crash Murphy	Hi Elf Ulan
Crash Murphy	Pleasure to see you again
Elf Ernest	Crash, it’s been a big week and I have a lot of questions that have been sent in.
Crash Murphy	I bet you do!
Elf Ulan	Me too!
Crash Murphy	Go ahead, Ernest. I’ll do my best
Elf Ernest	First of all, where were you when you got the news about the sleigh crash this week?
Crash Murphy	I was in flight school.
Elf Ernest	Flight school? Are you becoming a sleigh pilot?
Crash Murphy	I’m already certified as a sleigh pilot, though I do not fly much in an official capacity. No, I’ve been attending sleigh traffic control school.
Elf Ernest	Oh! Wow – does that mean a career change is coming for you?
Crash Murphy	No. I have to become certified. It’s part of my present job. I can’t be in a sleigh behind Santa on Christmas Eve without it.
Elf Ernest	Oh really? I didn’t know that.
Crash Murphy	Yeah, I am actually behind in getting it and I told Santa I’d wrap it up this year.
Elf Ernest	That’s interesting. Why do you need sleigh traffic control training if you’re the one out there in the skies actually in a sleigh?
Crash Murphy	That’s a fair question. I have to sometimes interact with those guys, all over the world. And they have kind of their own language and their own way of communication. I have to understand all that.
Elf Ernest	Gee, I had no idea the job of being the eye-in-the-sky reporter required so much hard stuff.
Crash Murphy	It is more about being in a sleigh. Santa wants every safety precaution taken. I think the events of this week show the wisdom in that.
Elf Ernest	Yes, back to that – so you were in a class when the news came in. Who told you?
Crash Murphy	Elf Buck was teaching the course that day and someone handed him a note and he told the class. He had us all follow him into Flight Command to watch things happen.
Elf Ernest	Wow, what a great perspective!
Crash Murphy	Yes, it was total luck. But I learned a lot from all that.
Elf Ernest	Well, Crash – we have a lot of people out there concerned about Santa’s sleigh.
Crash Murphy	Yeah, I was talking to Elf Hugo and he told me the North Pole Post Office got slammed this week with the news.
Elf Ernest	Yes, I heard the same.
Elf Ernest	How do we calm people down about this?
Crash Murphy	Well, accidents happen. And everyone is okay. That’s the first thing.
Crash Murphy	I went with Santa, as you know, to the Jingle Bell and Santa made SURE everyone was okay.
Elf Ulan	Are their mental health okay too?
Elf Ernest	Yes, I heard about that too from your report. But is Santa’s sleigh going to be okay?
Crash Murphy	Yes, Elf Ulan. The sleigh pilot is concerned it was his fault. But they pretty much said he handled it perfectly. It was a sleigh problem, not a pilot issue.
Crash Murphy	And Ernest, as far as Santa’s sleigh goes, everything is okay.
Crash Murphy	We have plenty of time to get things fixed and I hear that’s really on the move already.
Elf Ulan	Okay, I feel relieved it
Elf Ernest	Yes, there are tracker alerts all over SantaTrackers.net today. What’s happening?
Elf Ulan	Yeah, I was surprised it too
Crash Murphy	Well, last I heard they have built 12 new redesigned sleighs to correct the problem they found after the crash. They need to swap out those new sleighs for the old ones down in the South Pacific right now.
Elf Ernest	Ok…but how would that result in all these alerts?
Crash Murphy	I haven’t heard for sure what their plan is, Ernest. And I haven’t been online to see those alerts myself. What are they saying?
Elf Ernest	Every sector is on alert. The Elf Supervisors are telling their trackers to be ready for action.
Crash Murphy	Every sector?
Elf Ernest	Yes, every single one of them.
Elf Ulan	Will they go to each sector at the same time?
Crash Murphy	Well they must be doing a repositioning.
Elf Ernest	What is that?
Crash Murphy	It’s a change of scenery from one place to another for the test flights.
Crash Murphy	They are on the line between Sectors 5 and 1 and obviously they are planning to move things somewhere else.
Elf Ernest	Any clue where they might be going?
Elf Ulan	Wow
Crash Murphy	Not yet, but I’ll try to find out.
Crash Murphy	When they put multiple sectors on alert like that it means they are getting ready to cover a lot of ground quickly.
Crash Murphy	Usually it affects two or three sectors. To have all five on alert is very unusual.
Elf Ernest	Do you think it is because they are swapping out the sleighs?
Crash Murphy	It might have something to do with it, but it might not. I think it depends more on what they are testing.
Elf Ulan	Do they need more pilots?
Crash Murphy	Sometimes it is a sleigh thing, sometimes it is elf training, sometimes it is performance in bad weather – it could be a bajillion things. I’ll tell you what, that sure explains my schedule this week.
Elf Ernest	What’s your schedule this week?
Crash Murphy	I’ve been told I’m going to simulator training at the RHQ in Sector 3 – South Africa, I think.
Elf Ernest	Bethlehem, South Africa?
Crash Murphy	Yes, that’s it! Never been there that I can remember
Elf Ernest	Wow
Elf Ernest	Elf Ulan was asking about the number of test pilots. That’s another question we got a lot of in the mail this week
Elf Ulan	I’ve been South Africa!
Crash Murphy	People would be surprised at how many test pilots there are. So no, they have enough of them. And reindeer too
Elf Ernest	How many test pilots are there?
Crash Murphy	You’ve been to South Africa, Elf Ulan?
Elf Ulan	Yes!
Crash Murphy	I’ve been there, of course, but only at night and I don’t remember the town of Bethlehem
Crash Murphy	Golly, Ernest. There are some 200 test pilots and more than 6000 reindeer used to handle the test flight schedule.
Elf Ernest	REALLY? Wow, why so many?
Crash Murphy	Well, there are 12 test sleighs. And they fly around the clock. So that’s three shifts per day for the pilots and the reindeer. Thousands of flights over the months before Christmas
Elf Ernest	Wow, that sleigh really gets tested!
Elf Ulan	Are all pilots and their reindeer working ?
Crash Murphy	It really does. That is why Santa has so much confidence in his sleigh when it takes off every year.
Crash Murphy	Elf Ulan, those test pilots and reindeer work a lot for this process, yes. They are all at work.
Elf Ernest	Crash, they said a design flaw caused the problem. But isn’t this basically the same sleigh as last year?
Elf Ulan	Wow, they are great job!
Crash Murphy	Yes, that’s the official findings.
Elf Ernest	How did Santa NOT crash the sleigh last year then?
Crash Murphy	That’s a fair question, Ernest. The sleigh crashed because of a combination of things at the time of the crash. Santa isn’t necessarily going to duplicate those things on his flight.
Elf Ernest	Well,….was Santa in danger?
Elf Ulan	I heard the new his sleigh changed some materials to light
Crash Murphy	Sleigh flight is a dangerous business just by itself, Ernest. Anything can go wrong, even for an expert pilot like Santa. But I don’t think he was in any danger last year
Crash Murphy	Yes, Ulan. They are always looking for ways to make the sleigh lighter and more nimble.
Crash Murphy	That’s another reason there are test flights – to give those materials real flight experience.
Elf Ernest	Crash – how do they guarantee Santa’s safety?
Crash Murphy	There are no guarantees, Ernest. If you knew what Santa went through on his flight every year you would be shocked. That’s why they test the sleigh so rigorously.
Elf Ernest	Are you saying things happen during Santa’s flight that we don’t hear about?
Crash Murphy	Oh yeah.
Elf Ernest	Why don’t you report those things?
Crash Murphy	Oh I report different stuff to flight command. But not everything gets out on the radio, Ernest.
Elf Ernest	Like what kind of stuff?
Crash Murphy	Well, one year in Nebraska Santa took down a fence. It was a new fence, something that wasn’t there the year before and it was dark and he didn’t see it.
Elf Ernest	Was anyone hurt?
Crash Murphy	No. But it scratched up the underside of that sleigh and it didn’t do that fence any favors.
Elf Ernest	So how was that handled?
Elf Ulan	The north Pole Navy help him too?!
Crash Murphy	Santa was a little irritated. He took some quick pictures, called to the Workshop sleigh and had the fence repaired that night.
Elf Ernest	The workshop sleigh?
Crash Murphy	Yeah, there’s a rotation of support sleighs who are in flight all night on Christmas Eve just in case something like this happens. Santa needs all kind of help. On this night he had workshop elves on standby and they got to rebuild a fence in Nebraska.
Elf Ernest	Wow. I had no idea.
Crash Murphy	Yes, there are support sleighs of all kinds. Stocking repair, candy cane placement, tree watering, Christmas light maintenance – Santa calls on all kinds of elves to do duty anywhere in the world that he sees it. This is why flight command is tracking THOUSANDS of sleighs each Christmas Eve, not just Santa
Crash Murphy	And yes, Elf Ulan, you are correct. That is partly the job of the North Pole Navy too.
Crash Murphy	One of my favorite support teams is the sled dog team
Elf Ernest	Sled dog team? What do they do?
Crash Murphy	They fetch things.
Elf Ernest	LOL, of course!
Elf Ulan	Lol
Crash Murphy	Santa and Mrs. Claus are always looking for ways for elves to become useful on Christmas Eve. We all pitch in.
Elf Ernest	That’s brilliant. I think we should tell more of these stories in the news, Crash.
Crash Murphy	That would be a good idea, Ernest.
Elf Ulan	Agreed!
Elf Ernest	Well, our time is up. Thanks, Elf Crash, for your insights today. I always learn a lot from you
Crash Murphy	Thanks for having me. And it was good to chat a little with you again, Elf Ulan!
Crash Murphy	Have a great day!
Elf Ernest	Thanks, Crash. You too. And you as well, Elf Ulan.
Elf Ulan	Thank you Elf Crash and Elf Ernest today
Elf Ernest	Bye everyone!
Elf Ulan	Good bye!

Elf Ulan says:

August 26, 2022 at 5:06 am

Thank you, Elf Ernest! It was so much fun and interesting that the time flew by! So I missed asking if the tuna were okay, and the test sleighs have flight recorders, lol! I also wanted to tell Elf Crash I’m delighted to see and talk to him again, but… The new test flights are flying over Finland now. I hope they are going well. I look forward to seeing and talking to more people in the next chat too. Thank you, and let’s enjoy tracking Santa! XD