Santa Claus, like all pilots, gets regular visits from the
CASA Flight Operations Inspectors, and the CASA FOI arrived
last week for the pre-Christmas flight check.
In preparation, Santa had the elves wash the sled and bathe
all the reindeer. Santa got his logbook out and made sure
all his paperwork was in order. He knew they would examine
all his equipment and truly put Santa's flying skills to
the test...
The examiner walked slowly around the sled. He checked the
reindeer harnesses, the landing gear, and Rudolf's nose. He
painstakingly reviewed Santa's weight and balance
calculations for the sled's enormous payload.
Finally, they were ready for the check ride. Santa got in
and fastened his seatbelt and shoulder harness and checked
the compass. Then the examiner hopped in carrying, to
Santa's surprise, a shotgun.
"What's that for?!?" asked Santa incredulously.
The examiner winked and said, "I'm not supposed to tell you
this ahead of time," as he leaned over to whisper in
Santa's ear, "but you're gonna lose an engine on take-off.â€