Santa's journey through Canadian airspace went without a hitch last night.
At 21 Aerospace Control and Warning Squadron at NORAD here at CFB North Bay, technicians annually track Santa Claus as he enters Canadian airspace on Christmas Eve.
For Capt, Adam Murray, mission crew commander, he says his crew of technicians are tracking Santa for the 68th year.
He says it was a great experience as he and many of the other techs working on Christmas Eve had never completed this important mission before.
"Another Christmas has come and gone," said Capt. Murray.
"Everybody is excited and a little relieved as they can now continue on with what they need to do for the rest of the year and get ready to train for next year's event.
As far as this year, it went very smoothly. Everything went as expected to happen. We scrambled our jets to guide Santa across Canada. We were able to identify that it was him, he wished us all a Merry Christmas and we kept up as best we could with him as he flew across Canada until he moved on to his next destination.
Murray says his crew recognized Santa's sleigh and reindeer off the coast of Newfoundland last night. Fighters were then scrambled and met the Christmas sleigh.
The Air Force has always been very secretive about Santa's Journey never revealing any of the secrets behind how Santa has been able to finish this amazing task by delivering gifts to so many Canadian households.
Over the years, many NORAD officials have just called it, "Christmas Magic."
For Captain Murray, this mission is a family affair. As a child, Murray's dad was a fighter pilot who worked the NORAD mission.
"When I was growing up at 8 or 9 years old, we used to sit around and watch the NORAD Tracks Santa with my dad if he was home or perhaps he was on duty that night so he could not be there with us because he was hoping to guide Santa Claus across Canada. So it is very special for me as a second generation to continue on the mission to see it from a new perspective here at 22 Wing behind the scenes with the controllers and surveillance folks," explained Murray.
