AS9102 sets the requirements for aerospace first article inspection: what it is, when it is required, and what the record contains. This chapter explains it in our own words. Read the requirements in your own licensed copy of AS9102, and in your customers' purchase orders, which often add to it.
What a first article is
A first article inspection is a complete, independent and documented check that the production process has made a part meeting every requirement of the drawing and the order. Three words do the work. Complete: every characteristic, including the notes, the material and the processes, not a sample. Independent: verified by someone other than the person who made the part. Production process: the routing, machines, programs, tooling, people and suppliers that will make the parts that follow.
AS9100D asks for production process verification (8.5.1.3) and names first article inspection as one way to do it. Most aerospace customers require AS9102 specifically, on their purchase order.
What a first article is not
- Not a first piece. A first piece verifies one setup before a run (chapter 11). A first article verifies the whole process, once, and again only when a trigger calls for it.
- Not a prototype inspection. Parts made on a development route, by hand or in the toolroom, are not first articles, however carefully they are measured.
- Not a production part approval package. PPAP, as AS9145 sets it out, is a wider evidence package (process flow, risk analysis, control plan, measurement studies, capability) that includes a first article. A customer that requires AS9145 will ask for both.
The three forms, by purpose
AS9102 records a first article on three forms. We describe their purpose here, not their layout; use the forms in your copy of the standard or the customer's own format.
| Form | What it is for | What we check most |
|---|---|---|
| Form 1 | Part number accountability: identifies the part, its revision and the first article (full or partial, and why), and for an assembly lists every detail part and sub-assembly with its own first article | Revisions agree with the order and the drawing; the serial matches the part; sub-parts all accounted for |
| Form 2 | Product accountability: the materials, special processes and functional tests the drawing calls up, with their specifications, the sources that performed them and the certificates | Every certificate traces to this part's lot; every special process source is approved, by the customer where required |
| Form 3 | Characteristic accountability: one line per ballooned characteristic, with the requirement and the result, and any nonconformance | One line per balloon, values not 'OK', every nonconformance closed out with a re-verification |
With the forms goes the ballooned drawing: a copy of the drawing with a unique number on every characteristic and note. The balloon numbers are what tie Form 3 to the drawing.
Full and partial first articles
A full first article verifies every characteristic. It is done for a new part, or the first production run of a part made before only as prototypes. A partial (or delta) first article verifies only the characteristics a change could have affected, and records the reason and the scope. In our own words, these are the events that usually call for one or the other:
- A drawing or specification change that can affect fit, form or function.
- A change of manufacturing source: a new supplier for a detail part, a sub-assembly or a special process.
- A change of process or method, of inspection method, of location (a new site, or equipment moved), of tooling, or of material or its source, where it could affect the part.
- A new or changed NC program, or a program moved to another machine, control or media.
- An event that may have affected the process: a fire, a flood, a machine crash, a major repair.
- A lapse in production of two years, or a shorter period the customer sets.
- A customer request, or an earlier first article left incomplete.
The trigger screen in D07 turns this list into questions you answer for every order and every change, and its Partial FAI scope tab shows how we decide which characteristics a change could have affected.
Setting the scope of a partial first article
A partial first article re-verifies the characteristics a change could have affected. The hard part is deciding what 'could have affected' means. This is how we set it; your customer may set a wider scope, and theirs comes first.
| The change | What we re-verify | What we update |
|---|---|---|
| New drawing revision | Every characteristic added or changed, and anything produced in the same operation as a changed one | Ballooned drawing; Form 1; Form 3 lines; Form 2 if a material or process note changed |
| NC program changed, or moved to another machine or control | Every characteristic cut by the changed blocks, or by the whole program when it moved | Form 1 (the reason); Form 3 lines |
| Machine or location moved | Everything produced at the moved operations, and anything located from a datum set up there | Form 1; Form 3 lines |
| New or repaired fixture or tooling | Characteristics the fixture or tool locates, holds or forms | Form 3 lines; the validation record (E10) |
| New special process source | The process requirements, and characteristics the process can change (masked areas, thin sections) | Form 2 (source and certificate); Form 3 lines for process notes |
| New material source or specification | Material and process notes, and characteristics sensitive to the material | Form 2 |
| Inspection method changed | The characteristics now measured the new way, correlated with the old method on the same parts | Form 3 lines |
| Long lapse in production | Usually everything: people, machines, programs and suppliers have moved on | The full package at the current revision |
Two questions settle most arguments about scope. Could anything else on the part have moved because of this change? If the answer is 'maybe', the scope grows. Would we be comfortable showing the customer the reasoning? If not, it is too narrow.
Nonconformances found during a first article
A first article with a nonconforming characteristic is not complete. The characteristic goes on an NCR and is dispositioned like any other nonconforming product (D19). The cause is fixed, and the affected characteristics, and anything the fix could have moved, are verified again on a part made the corrected way. Only then is the first article complete. A first article signed with an open nonconformance is not complete, whatever the signature says.
Submission, approval and the record
Customers say how they want the first article submitted (their portal, email, or with the shipment) and whether they must approve it before the first shipment. Read the order's quality clauses at order review, not at shipment. Keep the completed first article as a quality record for as long as the customer and your procedure require; it is one of the records auditors and customers ask for most.
Need more than one resource, or not sure where to start? Book a complimentary 30-minute Aegis Quality Guidance Call. We'll find the tools that fit your situation and a sensible place to start. No sales pressure, no obligation.
A management aid, not certification or a registrar audit. Using it does not by itself show conformity to AS9100D or any other standard, and your customers' requirements may add to it.
Clause numbers refer to AS9100D (SAE AS9100 Rev D) unless another document is named. The standards' text is not reproduced here: use your own licensed copy.
Aegis Insights are our own guidance, labeled wherever they appear: how we approach this work, not a requirement of any standard or customer.