Opening his Christmas presents as a boy in St. Thomas, Capt. Kevin Mittelholtz never dreamed he’d one day escort Santa Claus on his rounds.

In a fighter jet, no less.

But the 27 year old is one of four Canadian CF-18 pilots — two from the Royal Canadian Air Force 4 Wing base in Cold Lake, Alta., two more from 3 Wing in Bagotville, Que. — chosen to accompany Santa Claus through Canadian airspace on Christmas Eve, backed by a ground support team, including trackers.

For Mittelholtz, it’s his first time flying the plum assignment.

“I never thought I’d have that privilege,” he said from Cold Lake, Canada’s busiest fighter base, where he’s stationed.

One thing Mittelholtz said he’s especially excited to see is how Santa and his reindeer fly.

“I’m also wondering how he keeps warm,” he said. “He’s obviously got some sort of magical system worked out.”

Santa typically covers Canada, east to west, from 9 p.m. Christmas Eve to midnight. Kids should know that if they’re not asleep, Santa will skip their house and return later after they drift off.

“Time doesn’t work the same, necessarily, for him,” Mittelholtz said.

This will be the 62nd year Canada has helped track Santa’s journey from the North Pole through its joint Norad air-defence system with the United States.

Jets like the one Mittelholtz flies patrol North American airspace 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, confronting air threats of any kind.

But for the record, Santa has flight clearance and no one has ever fired a missile at his sleigh.

“He’s more than welcome in our airspace,” Mittelholtz said.

It was at a London air show, at about age 10, that Mittelholtz’s dream of flying for the military took off. He was hooked after seeing the fighters and bombers up close and feeling the ground shake as they flew by. “It didn’t take that long” to map out his career path, he said: School in St. Thomas, then Western University before completing flight school. He finished his training in May.

“It’s a never-ending kind of skill set,” he said. His jet, a Hornet, has a top speed of about Mach 1.8, roughly 2,200 km/h. He compares it to racing a Formula One car.

What does it feel like to go that fast?

“It’s not like you go through the sound barrier and something happens, it’s fairly benign,” Mittelholtz, who volunteered to work over Christmas, said matter-of-factly.

And what’s so great about being a top gun in the air force?

“Being able to be a part of defending everything that Canada stands for,” he said. “It’s a lot of responsibility and I like that. It’s just a never-ending challenge.”

danbrown@postmedia

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Tracking Santa

Online:noradsanta.org

Phone:1-877-446-6723

Email updates:noradtracksanta@outlook.com