Fly the 2026 NFL season with Team Charters

Team Charters are live on Tailstrike. Thirty-two NFL team missions, synced from the real 2026 schedule, are on the Missions page now.

Pick a city and fly its season.

Each team has one mission covering the entire regular season. Every road game becomes two legs: the flight out before kickoff and the flight home afterward. Each team's mission series is locked until a Supporter unlocks it for the entire community. Supporters can unlock one team mission each (the team's full schedule) for the NFL missions series.

For 31 teams, every leg is shared. Any number of pilots can fly it, as many times as they like, using any eligible aircraft.

New England is different. Its mission uses one shared aircraft, N225NE, and each leg can be completed only once. Fly N225NE to New England's next destination, and it will remain locked for everyone until the next leg opens.

How a road game works

The outbound leg opens two days before kickoff and closes when the game begins. The return opens after the game and remains available for two days.

That means a Sunday game has a Friday departure and a Sunday night flight home, following the same week as the real team.

Open a team’s mission and the current leg appears at the top, including the route, week, kickoff time, and remaining window. Choose Fly, then lease an eligible aircraft. The mission leg is automatically declared on that lease.

If the aircraft is somewhere else, the Fly dialog shows the repositioning flight first, followed by the charter leg. Bringing the aircraft to the departure airport is recorded as part of the mission journey. Land at the charter destination before the deadline to complete the leg.

For every team except New England, the same leg remains available for other pilots to fly again. There is no limit to how many pilots can complete it or how many eligible aircraft can be used.

Completed legs appear on the mission page under every pilot who flew them. They also appear on each pilot’s profile under the missions they have flown.

Fly with the airlines that carry the teams

Each team flies under the charter airline that carries it in real life. Delta serves most of the league, with United, American, and Atlas Air carrying others.

The assigned airline is part of the eligibility rule. Charter legs must be flown using one of that carrier’s qualifying mainline passenger jets, starting with the 737 class and larger. Each mission also lists the aircraft types most commonly associated with that team, from the 757 through the A350.

You can choose any eligible aircraft, and multiple pilots can use different aircraft to fly the same leg.

Except, of course, for New England.

One aircraft. One Patriots season.

The New England Patriots own their aircraft: a Boeing 767-300ER registered N225NE and based in Providence.

On Tailstrike, N225NE is one persistent, shared airframe. Every Patriots leg must be flown using that exact aircraft, and every leg can be completed only once.

Whoever finishes the leg first claims it for the community. When they land, the aircraft stays at its destination.

If N225NE is sitting in Seattle after week one, someone has to bring it home before week two. Nobody can choose another aircraft, and nobody can repeat the completed leg.

It is one aircraft moving through one real season, handed from pilot to pilot.

Unlock a team for everyone

Teams arrive locked. Once per season, a Supporter can unlock a team for the entire community.

The Supporter’s name remains on the mission for everyone to see. Once unlocked, every pilot can fly that team for free throughout the season.

Supporters keep Tailstrike alive, and unlocking a team is one way that support becomes part of the shared world. One person opens the mission. Everyone gets to fly it.

New England starts unlocked.

Pick your team

Team Charters sits at the top of the Missions page. The NFL page lists all 32 teams, with unlocked teams first, along with each team’s airline, recommended aircraft, and season story.

Every team page includes the full schedule of outbound and return legs, with dates and distances, so you can spot the London and Munich trips well in advance.

The machinery behind Team Charters is ready for more leagues, including live schedule syncing, real airline rules, and special one-airframe teams.

For now, pick a city, get to the departure airport, and be there before kickoff.

Hero photo: CJMoeser via Planespotters.net.