SANTA CLAUS NOW CLEARED THROUGH ALL U.S. AIRSPACE

In a surprise phone call, Santa Claus asked the Experimental Aircraft Association for assistance in obtaining a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) waiver for flying his experimental amateur-built (vintage) sleigh in the United States. Santa stated that he flies his sleigh under general aviation flight rules and the U.S. Government has placed restrictions on these types of flights. He further stated the North Pole is not one of the foreign countries currently authorized to fly general aviation aircraft (or sleighs) in the United States and that approved general aviation foreign aircraft (sleighs) are not authorized to enter the enhanced Class B (ECB) airspace or the temporary flight restricted areas (TFR's) established around the country. On his behalf, EAA submitted (12/12/2001) the required FAA waiver request to: enter the US airspace; fly within ECB and TFR airspace; and fly in the State of Hawaii (USAF no transponder waiver required). EAA has discussed the waiver issue with the FAA and we don't foresee any problems, although they did indicate it may take up to 12 days for the waiver request to make it through the approval process.

"Without the waiver, Santa would not be able to fly in the U.S. or land on household rooftops in areas under Temporary Flight Restrictions, such as New York, Boston and Washington, D.C.," said Randy Hansen, an EAA Government Programs Specialist who assisted with the waiver request. "That would create a significant hardship for him to complete his Christmas deliveries as planned."

Doug Macnair, EAA Washington Office Director, contacted FAA officials with details about Santa’s lengthy flight plan, which is somewhat unusual because of the number of takeoffs and landings. This week, FAA issued Air Traffic Waiver #2818, allowing Santa to complete his flights on December 24-25, including to those areas currently prohibiting general aviation operations.

Source: EAA, The Leader in Recreational Aviation, is an international association with 170,000 members and more than 1,000 local Chapters. For more information on EAA and its programs, call 1-800-JOIN-EAA (1-800-564-6322) or explore EAA’s World Wide Web site ( www.eaa.org).

AviationHistory.org would like to express our heartfelt sympathies, prayers and condolences to those who experienced a tremendous loss on Sept. 11, 2001.

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