Mitchell,
It all happened so fast I could not give you an honest answer. I was approaching him from a head on aspect and he turned into me in the blink of an eye. Those reindeer obeyed his commands so fast I could not believe it - even though I saw it with my own eyes.
My wingman - "Opie" - was about 2 miles behind me in perfect tactical position to make a shot if necessary, but I recognized Santa and called - "Friendly, Friendly" - to Opie on our tactical radio frequency. Santa turned hard into me to take away my tactical advantage. Opie immediately "safed up" and called to me that he could see the target, but was too far away to be sure it was what he truly thought he saw. When I confirmed it, Opie simply formated on my wing and we dropped into Yellowknife for some fuel before we flew home.
Santa's sleigh was incredibly manoeuverable. He did exactly what was required to win a potential fight. He was sitting high on what appeared to be brown coloured bags. I would assume they were toys for the children of the world.
Elves are known to be quite small and it would have been easy for some of them to be there and for me to miss them.
As I age, I have since begun to think about Santa, and the places he flies through. Some of those skies are not too friendly - even though he does his work for the children of the world. Perhaps Santa could teach us old fighter pilots a thing or two about life. He has magic that makes even people like me realize there are many things in this world we will never understand - I suppose that is why we have things like belief, and faith.
Perhaps Santa has lots of knowledge to pass on to some of us - if we would only listen.
Mitchell - Opie was a great friend of mine. His family and my family would like to wish you and your family a warm and happy Christmas.
My very best to you,
Bez