AS9102 First Article Inspection
Three forms, one balloon per characteristic, and a package that has to prove the process produced a conforming part before the next one runs.
AS9102 is the aerospace standard that fixes the format of a first article inspection report. Three forms carry it: Form 1 for part number accountability, Form 2 for raw material, special processes, and functional testing, and Form 3 for every design characteristic, balloon by balloon against the drawing.
A standard format for documenting first article inspection, verifying every design characteristic of the first part off a new or changed process.
SAE International and the International Aerospace Quality Group (IAQG)
Any aerospace supplier delivering a part for the first time, and again after a design change, a change of manufacturing source, process, material, or tooling, or a production break long enough that the process is no longer proven. Primes flow it down through every tier below them.
None. AS9102 is a reporting requirement, not a certifiable scheme, so nobody holds an AS9102 certificate. The customer reviews the completed package, and an AS9100 registrar samples first article inspections during the certification audit. A thin or inconsistent report shows up as a finding.
Aerospace suppliers producing a part for the first time, after a design change, after a process change, or after a production break.
| Requirement | Module | What It Does |
|---|---|---|
| Characteristic accountability | Quality | An inspection template lists the characteristics to be verified, so the balloon list exists before the part runs rather than being reconstructed from a marked-up print afterward. Results are entered against the template, which gives Form 3 one row per balloon with an actual value, a pass or fail, and the person who recorded it. The three forms read from those entries, so the package is assembled from data that was already captured at the machine rather than hunted for afterward. |
| Material and special process accountability | Inventory | Form 2 asks what the part was made from and what was done to it. Receiving stores the material lot with its certification, and every issue to the job keeps that link, so the raw material entry comes from a record rather than an email. Purchase orders for outside heat treat or plating are tied to the same job, which is where the process source and specification come from. The entry an auditor distrusts is the one typed from memory weeks later; the entry that holds up is the one that was a receipt, a purchase order, and a lot number before anybody thought about the report. |
| The revision the part was built to | Engineering | Bills of material and routings are versioned with effective dating, so the report states the configuration actually in effect when the first article ran, not the one in force when somebody assembled the package three weeks later. When a change triggers a new first article inspection, the two versions sit side by side, which is what makes the scope of a partial report defensible. |
| Results captured at the operation | Production | Operators and inspectors enter quantities, scrap, and inspection results at a shop floor terminal while the part is still at the machine. The entry is attributed and timestamped, so the measurement date on the report is the date it happened. That removes the transcription step where a spreadsheet of dimensions drifts away from the traveler it came from. |
| A failed characteristic becomes a record | Quality | An out-of-tolerance balloon raises a nonconformance classified by severity, with its disposition recorded against the job. If the fix is systemic, an 8-D corrective action hangs off it. The report then shows the nonconformance reference the customer will ask for instead of a blank cell or a dimension quietly reinspected until it passed. |
| Assembly index and subassembly accountability | Engineering | Form 1 indexes the part numbers inside an assembly first article inspection. Multi-level bills of material already hold that structure, so the index is read from the configuration rather than typed from memory, and a detail part that has its own first article inspection is visible in the same tree as the assembly that consumed it. |
The auditor picks a part number and asks for its first article inspection. All three forms, the ballooned drawing, the material certification, the special process certifications, and the functional test results have to be present and agree with each other. The common finding is not a bad measurement; it is a package where the forms, the print, and the certs reference different revisions, because each piece was captured at a different moment by a different person. Effective-dated versions and lot-linked certifications remove the drift by making all three read from the same record.
Every dimension, note, and specification callout on the drawing needs a balloon, and every balloon needs a result. Auditors count both directions. An unballooned general note and a balloon with an empty actual value are both findings, and claiming a characteristic was verified by tooling or by a process without recording how is a third. On a dense print this is the single largest source of rework in a first article submittal, which is why building the characteristic list as an inspection template before the part runs beats ballooning the drawing after it ships.
Expect to be asked why this first article inspection happened: a new design, a changed source, new tooling, or a production break. For a partial report, you also have to show which characteristics the change touched and why the rest were carried over from the prior full inspection. Effective-dated revisions give the before and after; the engineering rationale is yours to write.
Form 3 identifies the measurement equipment used, and the auditor will pull its calibration certificate. Gages are asset records in WorkCell with meters and maintenance plans behind them, so the gage named on the report resolves to a record with a due date and a history rather than to a line in a shared log.
Many primes require the first article inspection to be reviewed and accepted before serial production begins, and the acceptance itself is a record. WorkCell holds the data the report is built from and attaches the customer's acceptance back onto the same part and revision, so the approval and the measurements it approves sit on one record instead of in two systems.
When is a first article inspection required?
On the first production part from a new design, after a design change affecting fit, form, or function, after a change of manufacturing source, process, material, or tooling, and after a production break long enough that the process is no longer proven. The customer contract can add triggers.
Can WorkCell generate the AS9102 forms?
Yes, from records that already exist: characteristic results recorded against the inspection template at the operation, the material lot and its certification from receiving, the outside process purchase orders, and the routing revision in effect when the part ran. Form 1 indexes the assembly from the multi-level bill, Form 2 reads the material and special processes, and Form 3 is one row per balloon with the actual value and the inspector who recorded it.
Do we have to redo the whole FAI after a small design change?
No. A partial first article inspection covers only the characteristics the change affected, and the report references the prior full inspection for everything untouched. Judging which characteristics were affected is engineering judgment you have to document, because an auditor will ask why a characteristic was left out.
Who numbers the balloons on the drawing?
You do, and the numbering scheme is yours to choose as long as every design characteristic on the drawing gets exactly one balloon and the report uses the same numbers. Auditors check both directions: an unballooned dimension and a balloon with no result are each a finding.
What goes on Form 2 that is not on Form 3?
Form 2 is product accountability: the raw material and its certification, every special process performed with its specification and the approved source that performed it, and functional test results. Form 3 is dimensional and attribute results, balloon by balloon. Form 1 identifies the part and indexes any subassemblies.
Will a system make our first article inspection acceptable to the customer?
No. No software can confer compliance, and the customer, not the vendor, decides whether your package is acceptable. A system holds the measurements, the lot, and the revision so the package is complete and internally consistent. The measuring, the judgment, and the submittal stay yours.
Keep the records as the work happens.
Tell us how your shop builds a first article packet today and we will show you which parts of it already exist as records on the job and which you would still assemble by hand.