Jeppesen Commemorative Charts Special Edition: Santa’s Charts
Jeppesen has updated the RNAV charts for Santa in the North Pole, which includes a caution for supersonic heavy departures and for flights conducted under the influence of eggnog. The chart, marked as for Reindeer Navigation Only, includes straight-in landings and circle-to-land, which is authorised only when Rudolph is available. The 2015 changes are cited as Noel procedure and airport configuration.
The back of the chart has free space for the Naughty/Nice list and page two is detailed enough to support even the most inebriated St. Nick (I particularly like the Hot Cider De-ice Pad).
Click on the image to load the full PDF:
This video by Jeppesen was created when they first released the chart and mentions some of the highlights:
I really love that Jeppesen do this. They’ve been releasing special edition charts for three decades, most of them to honour public figures.
The earliest one that I know of is the chart for Barry Schiff, a pilot and author who has written much on the subject of aviation and aviation safety. His chart was developed to celebrate his retirement in 1998 and includes the instruction for missed deadline: Climb to 4000′ outbound via BJS VOR R-250 and inbound on KATHY R-148 to RELAX.
The 2005 Harrison Ford Hideaway approach is still classic, especially considering the new Star Wars flick (I haven’t seen it yet, so no spoilers please!)
Of course, Sully Sullenburger and Jeff Skiles are named specifically on the the Hudson River Miracle released in 2010.
There’s apparently 87 of these special edition charts in total. Do you know of a good one that I missed? Let me know in the comments!
I understand that USA SAC (Strategic Air Command) have been reporting Santa’s journeys since the 1950’s. It all started when a young boy phoned (he dialed a wrong number) and spoke to the Colonel in charge demanding to know where Santa was. The Colonel and his staff obliged and have done ever since
Sorry its NORAD and here’s the link http://www.noradsanta.org/
Oh, I love it!
Hi Sylvia,
Love your blog! Thanks for publishing the Jepp charts. I’ve seen several in my time with them (43 years) but none spring to mind except the Hudson River one, and what they did when I retired! It has a British flavour. I’ll extract it and send you a copy.
Oh, and you might like to correct the spelling of Hatfield in the lower blue band…
Happy New Year!
I have seen the Hudson River one but it was a long time ago; it’s very good!
The lower blue band changes all the time – can you tell me what it says instead of Hatfield so I can search for it? I’m always grateful to have typos pointed out to me but I can’t find this one. :)