update: using the javascript injection method described in the links above works fine with dynamically created html elements, and will launch the print window for multiple pdfs ..  Below is my jquery code, it's quick and dirty but it works...  I've got a button with the ID #print_list in my html file and a div with the id #pdf_holder to hold the objects.  There is a dynamically created list of links in teh #pdf_target div.

The callPdfFromJavascript() function assumes that the pdf has the corresponding javascript already loaded.  I have modified this function slightly to include the increment variable allowing each object to have a unique ID.

See link posted by chris above for the function that goes in the pdf.

I still need to figure out how to do this without the objects appearing but getting this far makes me happy

$(document).ready(function() {

     if(air.HTMLLoader.pdfCapability == air.HTMLPDFCapability.STATUS_OK)  
     { 
          air.trace( "PDF content can be displayed" );
          
          //print button 
          $('#print_list').click(function() {
               
               var i='1';
               
               $('#pdfdad_target a').each(function() {
                    
                    var pdfLink = $(this).attr('href');
                              
                    var pdfObjectHtml = '<object id="PDFObj'+ i + '" data="'
                         + pdfLink + '" type="application/pdf"></object>';
                    
                    $('#pdf_holder').html();
                              
                    $('#pdf_holder').append(pdfObjectHtml);
                    
                    air.trace(i);
                    
                    //send message to pdf to print
                    callPdfFunctionFromJavascript('Print', i);

                    i++;
               });
               
          });
     } 
     else  
     { 
          air.trace("PDF cannot be displayed. Error code:", HTMLLoader.pdfCapability); 
     }
     
});


//function that sends print command to pdf
function callPdfFunctionFromJavascript(arg, i){
     air.trace('got this far');
     
     var pdfObjectId = "PDFObj" + i;
     
     pdfObject = document.getElementById(pdfObjectId);
     
     air.trace(pdfObjectId);
     
     try {
          pdfObject.postMessage([arg]);
     } 
     catch (e) {
          alert("Error: \n name = " + e.name + "\n message = " + e.message);
     }
}

here is an article how to open and show and silent print pdf in Windows and Mac OSX with examples (using native commands):
http://www.onyrix.com/2012/04/adobe-air-pdf-silent-print-with-acrobat- reader/

bye
d