Dear Ernest,

Do planes filled with the secret elf service follow Santa's sleigh to ensure a safe flight?

Matthew
Deltona, Florida USA

Not quite. Santa doesn't like to use planes, although he is a licensed pilot. He tries to stay away from too many planes or helicopters especially on Christmas Eve. Frankly, they go just too slow for Santa.

But he loves sleighs. They have few moving parts to break down and they fly completely silent, which is important in Santa's line of work.

And yes, there are sleighs of elves who work behind Santa and in different parts of the world on Christmas Eve.

In fact, if you listen to the Santa Tracking on Kringle Radio each year you will hear live reports of news from a reporter who follows Santa around in the skies. Here is one report from last year's flight: