Roster pattern generator
Find your position in the roster cycle for any date, generate a full-year calendar with early, late and off blocks, and export to your personal calendar or spreadsheet. Free, no account required.
Step 1 — Your role
How the roster cycle works
The 5/4 pattern (18-day cycle)
The standard pattern repeats every 18 days: 5 early shifts, 4 days off, 5 late shifts, then 4 days off. There are 18 roster numbers, each offset by one day. On any given day, the base has crews in every phase of the cycle simultaneously.
The 5/3 pattern (16-day cycle)
Some bases operate with a shorter off block: 5 early shifts, 3 days off, 5 late shifts, 3 days off. The cycle length drops to 16 days. Because no company-wide anchor exists for 5/3 rosters, this tool asks you to declare your current phase and day instead of a roster number.
Anchored vs. self-declared
If you know your roster number (1–18), the tool uses a fixed anchor date to compute every phase automatically — no further input needed. If you don't know your roster number, or you fly a 5/3 pattern, you can declare your current position (e.g. “today I am on Early, day 3”) and the cycle is projected forward and backward from there.
25 December
25 December is always off for the entire base. This is a display-level override — the cycle is not shifted, so 26 December follows the normal pattern as if 25 December had been worked.
Limitations
- Pattern only, not the published roster. This tool computes the repeating cycle — it does not know about swaps, training days, leave, or any change applied after the base pattern. Always cross-check with your published roster.
- Roster numbers are specific to the 5/4 cycle. Roster numbers 1–18 apply only to the 18-day pattern. If your base uses a different cycle length, use the self-declared mode instead.
- No guaranteed accuracy. The anchor date and cycle structure reflect common practice but may not match every base or every period. Use this as a planning aid, not a definitive schedule.
Roster cycle computed client-side. No data is sent to any server. ICS export follows RFC 5545. XLSX export uses the SheetJS library.