Captain Collier here - 19 years as a Public Affairs professional, sometimes you just luck out :)

As long as he's in flight! But of all the data we have, it's all day December 24.

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Captain Collier here -- That's a great memory. We have so many examples that people give us like that. Warms my heart!

Hi everyone! The time has come to end our AMA this go around. We still have last-minute preparations to complete to support our ability to track Santa on December 24! Remember to visit noradsanta.org to track Santa in real time, or call us at 1-877-HI-NORAD.

Your daughter is full of questions! And they are great ones too. We do not know any elves ... we just track Santa in flight.

Good question! We are both prior enlisted.

Captain Collier here - do you mean people volunteering to be Santa Trackers?

European or African?

Fantastic question! Because Santa flies faster than starlight, it takes the combined power of our complimentary radar (the North Warning System--a powerful radar system with 47 installations across Northern Canada and Alaska), satellites, and fighter jets--Canadian CF-18s and US F-15s, F-16s and F-22s, to ensure continuous coverage of Santa's flight. Rudolph's red nose and the infrared signature he gives off is also critical to our success!

That's because we don't! Our more than 900 NORAD Santa Trackers that work shifts throughout the day are definitely not trying to replace the Big Guy. Our special mission on Dec. 24 of tracking his worldwide travels allows our volunteer Santa Trackers to relay the real-time data of his route to callers.

Captain Collier here -- Santa definitely is the king of logistics, hands down, as far as I'm concerned. But until the USAF can harness the power of his magic, not sure it's comparable.

Wikipedia...? Isn't that the site teachers say you can't use as a source?

Because we're in the business of tracking Santa this command is always on standby to answer Santa questions. If a call did make it through on an unlisted number from a child asking for Santa's whereabouts I have no doubt it would be answered courteously and professionally ... there would be plenty of time for questions with the IT and comms teams afterwards.

To my knowledge, hopefully nothing! That's definitely a question for him but we've tracked him over ND before.

You can imagine we're going to be a bit busy going into December 24th, but thanks for the positive feedback! We're definitely going to discuss doing another one (or two) for next year.

That's a job for his top-notch elves!

Hmmm.... good question. Ginger bread spice? Powdered sugar perhaps?

Very serious, Eddie.

The AMA was scheduled for 90 minutes, so we should go for another 30 minutes. We are not slated for another AMA this year.

Captain Collier here -- I'm 39. And Lt Carter just admitted to me that he's 32.

Does he?

Here at NORAD we're all about homeland defense through aerospace control--here's to hoping any and all Grinch activity is being monitored by another department...

Maybe a good question to ask is does he even need that! Like we've mentioned before, we never know what route Santa takes, but we have historical data that shows he visits any and all nations where there are children who believe in him.

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We always thought spotting Santa was unusual enough!

Santa knows, of course he knows--he's known for years now! First-hand accounts from some very star-struck interceptor pilots report that after tipping their wings as a way to say hello, the jolly old elf would give his trademark smile, and with a twinkle in his eye he'd be off again... faster than starlight.