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Squadrons get upgrades for training, flight management

Marine Corps News

Release Date: 2/5/2004

Story by Lance Cpl. John Sayas

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION MIRAMAR, Calif. (Feb. 5, 2004) -- A mobile training team from Training and Education Command based in Quantico, Va., conducted a five-day Squadron Assistance Risk Assessment Program course with Marine Aircraft Group 16 Marines here Jan. 26 - 30.

The SARA 5.0 program is an upgraded version of the current program already being used Corps-wide by Marine aviation squadrons for flight scheduling and training management, according to Capt. Jimmy Parker, technical lead, Training Management Systems, Aviation Training Branch, Training and Education Command.

Parker said all Marine aviation squadrons will receive the newest version of SARA 5.0. Training teams have been providing the training to squadrons since last November and should be completed by this summer. MAG-11 is scheduled to receive the training in early March.

"This is the most significant enhancement in its seven year history," he said. There have been several upgrades to the program since it was first introduced to the Marines in 1996. It is normally maintained by operations clerks who track flight schedules, flight hours, type of flights flown, and other training requirements for Marine pilots.

"It's a quick and easy job," Cpl. Ernesto Aldrete, operations clerk, Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 769 stationed out of Edwards Air Force Base, and Burlingame, Calif., native. "Once you have the database created, all you have to do is (insert) a disk in and it uploads all the pilot's flight information ... it automatically updates everything."

In addition to being used as a training management tool, the program can be utilized as an Operational Risk Management tool because it helps maintain all the training data for aircrews, and shows whose training has expired on certain skills, Parker said. The program has the ability to create daily reports for review by safety officers and squadron commanding officers to ensure the accuracy of training management data and identify any potential safety hazards.

"The way it handles training management data is now in accordance with current Marine Corps manuals and orders that tell us how we work," Parker explained. "Previous versions of SARA were not maintaining (data) the way they were suppose to so we fixed all that behind the scenes."

Some of SARA's other new features include the ability to automatically download Training and Readiness updates into SARA databases within minutes and provide enhanced risk models that enforce objective criteria taken straight from Marine Corps and Navy aviation administration manuals.

SARA also identifies when crews fly day or night, enforces the proper mix of qualifications and designations, calculates all sun and moon data that can be printed on flight schedules automatically, and allows clerks to easily transfer aircrews between squadrons and manually add new crewmembers in the minimum amount of time possible.

"It's a significant upgrade, but it still has some limitations and our shop is looking at how to overcome those limitations, whether its fixing SARA, continuing to upgrade SARA, or go with another program," Parker said. "This is the best thing going and we are doing the training for it."