Wednesday, December 23, 2020

FAA grants Santa Claus special operating authority for Christmas Eve flight

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) announced Wednesday it has granted Santa Claus and his reindeer special operating authority to perform air-cargo-delivery services directly to rooftops throughout the United States on Christmas Eve.

In addition, for the first time ever, the FAA issued Santa a special commercial space license to visit the International Space Station using his StarSleigh-1 space capsule powered by the Rudolph Rocket. The mission license includes both launch and reentry operations and will occur from a U.S.-based spaceport.

Being a world humanitarian, Santa knows this Christmas is different from other years and he wholeheartedly agrees with the FAA decision to give priority to flights carrying COVID-19 vaccines and other cargo critical to the nation’s response to the ongoing public health emergency.

In addition, Santa has informed the FAA he will fly healthy during his journey by wearing a face mask on his flight to set a good example for everyone who is traveling by air this holiday season.

To ensure Santa and all other pilots have a safe trip, the FAA is asking the public for assistance and avoid creating a serious safety risk with drones and lasers. Sending up a drone to take a picture or video of an aircraft or sleigh is distracting to the pilots and will scare the reindeer, while holiday laser-light displays aimed into the sky can temporarily blind pilots.

Follow Santa’s progress as he travels across the U.S. by visiting the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) website, where NORAD tracks Santa’s Christmas Eve voyage.

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