As North Pole Flight Command announced earlier the test flights of Santa’s Sleigh will soon be in Sector 3. That means it is time for us to get back to business. But, a little fun first:

Elf Z in Flight Command was able to secure for us some great shots of the test flights that have been made available for release. We received hundreds of thousands of sleigh sighting reports over the past month  in our sector and many of those reports included pictures and videos. These are interesting:

Taken somewhere in Iowa this shot shows multiple test flight sleighs during a high speed test. This is a confirmed sighting, recorded at a fairly low altitude.

This was one of the few verified sleigh sightings on the Pacific Coast, taken in Vancouver BC it is a singular sleigh testing launch angles from the deck of a ship from the North Pole Navy.

This was just a few days ago taken by an elf staffer here in Nova Scotia. Yes, we knew the sleighs were near us because Flight Command arranged it. What makes this interesting is the low level of this sighting, not far off the water. This was taken from a boat but we didn’t know exactly where it would happen but the coastal fog made for outstanding conditions for testing on-board lights. Santa does not like to use bright lights because he doesn’t want to wake people up. But sometimes he just needs additional lighting. His complaints are that the on board lighting is either too bright or too dim. So they are testing adjustable lights that can be controlled by voice.

I appreciate Elf Z sending these images because they give us a much better idea of the kind of work these test pilot teams do. It’s not all just blazing through the skies – they are DOING stuff out there that they hope will help Santa.

And that’s what we do too. So, back to business. We enjoyed the test flights over our sector the past several weeks but we have spent so much time and reporting in trying to find the test flights we have fallen a little behind in our usual work. So let’s catch up by doing the following:

1. Chimney Inspections – please do them sooner rather than later. We don’t want you trying to do these in bad weather and by all means **keep your feet on the ground**. Please turn these in by the end of September.
2. Roof Reports – these are among the most important we can do. If you want to prevent Santa from damaging your roof, please check it out and let us know in advance if there are issues. We are compiling as many pictures to these reports as we can so if you can submit a roof picture use the photo submission report for that.

For now, that’s it. I’m not going to try to ask you for additional reports between now and the end of October unless Flight Command or Santa comes up with something special. Don’t hold me to it but I want to see if the next two months will give us a chance to do a very thorough job with these reports.

Thanks – you’re the best!

North Pole Flight Command has just informed me of a special operation to be conducted over Sector 5 called Hot August Nights.

The test flights of Santa’s sleigh will be over Sector 5 during the month of August specifically to be seen. That’s right – you read that correctly – they want you to SEE Santa’s sleigh in flight. And they want us to report on it.

The flights will be going day and night. I have been told that I will be updated on flight plans at least once a week, starting tomorrow August 1st.

Flight Command believes that visibility of Santa’s sleigh will be better at night than it will during the day. Commercial air traffic is heavier during the day and given the altitudes that the sleighs will be flying at it is just more difficult to see the sleigh from the ground during the day even with special equipment.

In addition, I’m told that the test flights will be aided by “extra illumination” – they want to be seen! So night time observation during Hot August Nights is strongly encouraged.

They are hoping not only to receive reports – in the form of the sleigh sighting report – but they are hoping trackers will also take photos and videos and send them to Flight Command.

Please be advised that these are all planned flights. There are no plans for landings or on-the-ground sighting opportunities.

This, of course, means a lot more communication with trackers than is normal. Mostly everyday, I’m guessing. So please check in frequently and I will do the best I can to inform you of possible flight plans in your area.

Stand by for further updates.

Greetings, Elves of Sector 5!

Elf Max has put these “ask a question” boxes all over the website and between those boxes and the new Junior Tracker Elf thing set up by Elf Moe I have been getting bombarded with questions.

Even though our Regional Tracking Center in Canada doesn’t open for a few more days I thought I would try to get ahead of this question because I have a feeling it is going to be asked again and again between now and December. The question is:

How do I get promoted?

This question is coming from every class of elf. I will answer for all three.

Some, such as returning elves or freelance elves, as asking in advance of our hiring of a new sector lead for Sector 5. We have received plenty of applications, from both North Pole Elves who have been around a while and from freelance elves.

Would I hire a freelance elf to be Sector Lead?

Maybe.

Convince me. Start a conversation with me. I can be convinced.

Should North Pole elves already active on the Elf Wall be discouraged by that? Not at all. It’s not about who you are or where you are.

It is about what you say, what you think, what you feel. I’m looking for someone strong who can reflect our needs as a Sector and get out there and communicate with all elves — freelance, Junior and Senior elves. To communicate with them you gotta show you can communicate with me.

Now, what about the brand new Junior Tracker Elf who really wants to become a North Pole Elf?

Well, that’s more or less the same thing. Don’t submit the question any more in the “ask a question” boxes. ASK ME. Talk to ME.

Being a brand new elf is one thing. But being a returning elf who just came back for the first time since last Christmas only to find your account gone is quite another. If you were here before and have tracked Santa in the past, I’m here for you. If I remember you and the work you did previously, I’m not going to hold you back. Talk to me and I’ll promote you right away back into the North Pole Elf Community.

I believe in 2nd chances.

But for you newbies: listen up.

You gotta learn how to do this. The Elf Wall can be a big distraction for new elves and we learned the past couple of years that some elves enjoyed just talking with other elves more than doing the actual work of tracking Santa for Santa.

So, am I not going to promote any Junior Tracker elves to better things in the Elf Community?

No, I’m not saying that. I just saying “knock my socks off”. Show me you know your elf stuff. Talk to ME. Tell me what you know.

One thing you must realize, especially if you’re not an elf in my sector. Your Elf Supervisor might handle it different than me. Realize we’re not all the same.

I run the biggest sector in the world. We already have millions more than the other sectors ever will have. I feel the energy out there coming from elves of all types. I have to do this a little differently that my other friends who are Elf Supervisors.

My recommendation to you is to ask them how they are doing it.

I think they may answer you.

The elf job of Sector Lead is evolving. It will now require added duties, as listed at the job description found on this page.

Due to the changes in the position, I have decided to release all existing Sector Leads from their positions. They are welcome to re-apply and would be strongly considered if they are willing to take up the new duties as listed in the job description.

What is different about this position?

After long discussions with the Elf Supervisors, it was decided that Sector Leads need to have a more visible presences both on SantaTrackers.net and on social media channels. Sector Leads will be given more responsibility in both recruiting and news outreach efforts. This will require a lot more time and certainly a lot effort. That was a key reason why I chose to release those currently in the position.

The job has just changed.

The Elf Supervisors not only ask for a voice in recruiting for this position but also an ability to tailor the job to their own needs in each sector. I support this request. A Sector Lead in one sector will need to adapt to the needs of that sector through communication with the Elf Supervisor.

Please note that while the job description says a Sector Lead needs to be a North Pole Elf with a presence on SantaTrackers.net I will be flexible in that requirement in sectors where access and language make finding qualified candidates difficult (looking at you Sector 2). I will consider the possibility of a strong freelance elf candidate (or two).

If you are freelance elf with interest and qualifications in the Sector Lead position, please reach out via a standard freelance tracker report submission or via the support page here at SantaTrackers.net

If you have questions please feel free to ask them below or on the Elf Wall.

Today we have added a new report to the library of reports offered here on SantaTrackers.net. Elf Max has restructured the library pages and added a new report to the Personal Reports library titled “Message Your Elf Supervisor”.

This new report was born out of concern for the many new Junior Tracker Elves coming on board this year.

Their job in their first six months as an elf is to try to get promoted to North Pole Elf status and join the Elf Community. To do that, they need to become known to their elf supervisors.

One way to do that is via the tracker reports that our Elf Supervisors ask you all to provide.

But because Junior Elves are NOT part of the Elf Community there is no direct way for them to reach out to their Elf Supervisor. Furthermore, privacy laws prevent two-way communication outside of the regulated environment of the community.

As Elf Moe, Santa and myself discussed this challenge we determined the best way to do this was to implement this new report that will allow any elf to send a message directly to the Elf Supervisor.

This is a good idea for our North Pole Elves of the community as well. The Elf Community is accessible to our Elf Supervisors but they get very busy and rarely have time to check messages.

This new report operates via channels controlled by the North Pole Post Office and flows through regular reporting protocols. In other words, when you use this NEW REPORT your message gets routed like a report – and it gets straight to your Elf Supervisor right away.

(Every report that comes in requires action in the Regional Tracking Center that receives it. Elves working in the Regional Center tag the report, send it to the teams who assess that information. When necessary, follow up actions are added or the information is filed for use for when Santa flies to the area you are reporting from. Making a message for your supervisor thus means it goes into a queue where they HAVE to read it and act on it).

Even though your Elf Supervisor cannot reply to you in these messages they can still see what you have to say and then choose whether or not to post something on SantaTrackers.net publicly in response to it.

As we get more and more of our Regional Tracking Centers announced the likelihood of report requests will be increasing. In fact, you should expect a first request from your Elf Supervisor anytime within the next week.

We encourage you to learn about and use this new report.

Note to Freelance Elves: this new report is not available to you. We encourage you to reach out to your Elf Supervisor via the standard freelance elf report.