Ultra-long-haul flying from the New York area to Asia almost exclusively utilizes passage through the North Pole airspace; it is simply the shortest distance between the two points, albeit undesirable forecasted winds.

Unlike the Massachusetts Air National Guard, Santa Claus has always had low altitude, flyover rights in Maine airspace; in fact, it is widely known that Santa is a worldwide air carrier during the holidays.

My two daughters and I have recently concluded that the reason my commercial flights are restricted at least 60 miles from the geographical center of the North Pole is because of the presumed, extensive (year-round) flight training taking place for Capt. Santa, the reindeer and all the support personnel.

I want to personally thank Evy and Sophie for “clearing the air” during a dinner table discussion, as I, for years, had thought we couldn’t fly over the North Pole because of grid magnetic unreliability and its effects on our flight management systems, creating undesirable navigation anomalies.

Anyone have 60-mile binoculars I could borrow? I’ll be looking for the red nose.

Dan Bilodeau, Auburn