Spotlight on Sector 5

I just got out of a long meeting with Elf Roger Star, Elf Buck Sanchez and Elf Crash Murphy at North Pole Flight Command.

I was up there at the North Pole to more fully understand what the next five days will be like. I have not been at the North Pole for several weeks and let me tell you I was shocked by what I saw. The snow is just incredible. I don’t know how those people are EVER going to dig out.

What I learned is important for you to understand: we are Sector 5, Santa’s last stop. That means a lot of things.

Operation Airlift, as Elf Ed Zachary explained, is complex. Normally they have a plan for each sector and they overlap. On Christmas Eve, in any given hour, sleighs launch from the North Pole to every sector.

With the weather this week they changed their strategy. They have been sending out all sleighs according to location. In other words, everything that will be needed, for now, in Sector 1, has been dispatched and delivered. If Santa left the North Pole right now, he’s be ready to deliver to Sector 1 just fine. Everything needed for Sector 1 is now where it needs to be, just as if today were Christmas Eve.

For Sector 5 – NOTHING has yet to be set up with Operation Airlift. That’s because Flight Command decided to re-order the shipment of things according to location.

As of this morning, all of Sector 1 and most of Sector 2 has been delivered. They hope to have everything for Sector 2 done late tonight.

That leaves Sectors 3 and 4 ahead of us. And then we’re last.

That makes me really nervous.

But, as I look at the countdown we will have Friday, Saturday, Sunday AND Monday to get everything set for Sectors 3,4, and 5. We SHOULD be okay.

Ok, that’s Operation Airlift. But what does all this mean for us?

Well, where I’m coming from I totally agree with Elf Crash moving up the check-in process. It gives us more time to help.

I spoke with Elf Buck specifically about needs outside of the North Pole and he was very direct. Any and all information we send them is useful for EVERY sleigh being sent from the North Pole, not just Santa. From Sunday forward nearly every sleigh will be dedicated to Sector 5.

So…..

We’re going to flood them with information and I’m going to be very direct with you come Saturday and Sunday about what we can do. I’ll likely be more specific than I have ever been in giving you our needs.

We don’t need canned weather reports or links. We will need you to actually go outside and LOOK on the weather. Take pictures. Share what you see. Weather will be far be the most important.

Sleighs might be really visible come late Saturday and into Sunday. Keep an eye out.

We’re last, guys. That means the spotlight is on us. Let’s show them all what we can do.

About this Elf: Elf Pinky

Elf Pinky was recruited from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1992 and has since served as an instructor in sleigh flight theory at the North Pole Institute of Aviation. She worked very hard to earn her elf credentials, working a second shift first as a tool repair technician in Santa’s workshop and then as an engineer in the Wrapping Department designing wrapping machines. Pinky in recent years was a recruiter and trainer of sleigh test pilots and flies under the call sign Barracuda. Last year she served as a Flight Operations Director and demonstrated outstanding judgment and maturity in her duties supervising more than 400 elves, pilots, reindeer handlers and sleigh freighters.