Clear AFS helps NORAD Track Santa Published Dec. 30, 2008 By Tech. Sgt. Beth Norman CLEAR AIR FORCE STATION, Alaska -- For 50 years, NORAD has "tracked" Santa on his annual trip. This tracking initially started out as answering telephone calls from children everywhere and informing the excited youngsters of Santa's whereabouts. In recent years, NORAD developed a website to provide "real time" tracking of Santa's flight. The website, www.noradsanta.org, provides visitors a chance to click on certain cities/landmarks around the world to watch Santa do a flyover and listen to a commentary on the trip in 7 different languages. This year, Clear Air Force Station, Alaska, home of the 213th and 13th Space Warning Squadrons, got in on helping track Santa. Clear is comprised of Alaska Air National Guard (AKANG) personnel on full-time duty and a few active duty Air Force personnel on remote tours. The day-to-day mission is primarily carried out by the AKANG personnel. Clear personnel used the capabilities of the PAVE PAWS RADAR to provide NORAD with launch notification and target verification on Christmas Eve, as well as monitoring Santa's flight trajectory. During a successful test flight earlier this month, Space Console Operators at Clear were able to track and identify Santa's departure from the North Pole, provide the necessary notifications to NORAD, and follow his trajectory to verify Santa had adequate speed to ensure he could make it around the world in one night. This is the first year that Clear and the Alaska Air National Guard participated in this endeavor and plan to be more involved in coming years.