What an AS9102 First Article Inspection Report Actually Contains

This post is written for aerospace buyers, quality engineers and program managers who receive first article inspection packages and need to judge them quickly, and for design engineers who want to know what their drawing turns into once it reaches a supplier's inspection lab. It assumes you have seen an AS9102 form before and want to understand what the document is actually asserting.

An AS9102 first article inspection report is not a certificate of good intentions. It is a structured claim that a specific production process, run with specific tooling on specific material, produced a part in which every drawing requirement was measured and recorded. The standard exists because the alternative is a signature on a packing slip.

The three forms, and what each one is for

AS9102 organizes the report into three forms. They are not interchangeable, and a package missing one of them is incomplete.

Form 1, Part Number Accountability. This is the cover sheet. It identifies the part number, part name, drawing revision, serial or lot number, the purchase order and the manufacturing process reference. It also records whether the FAI is complete or partial, and it lists the sub-assemblies or detail parts covered by the report. Form 1 is where a reviewer confirms that the part inspected is the part ordered, at the revision ordered.

Form 2, Product Accountability. This form accounts for materials, special processes and functional testing. Every raw material heat lot, every plating, anodize, passivation, heat treat or nondestructive test appears here with the supplier name, the specification called out on the drawing, and the certificate reference. If a drawing calls out an approved source for a special process, Form 2 is where a prime checks that the process ran at an approved source rather than a convenient one.

Form 3, Characteristic Accountability. This is the substance of the report. Each drawing requirement receives a numbered line, a nominal value, the tolerance, the measurement method, the actual measured result and a pass or fail determination. Nonconformances get a reference to the disposition document. Form 3 is where a package either holds up or does not.

What a balloon drawing is, and why it comes first

A balloon drawing is a copy of the released drawing on which every dimension, note, tolerance, surface finish callout, geometric tolerance and material requirement is circled and numbered. Those numbers are the characteristic numbers on Form 3. Nothing is inspected from memory, and nothing is inspected twice under two different numbers.

Ballooning is a discipline, not a formality. It forces someone to read the entire drawing, including the notes block, before a part is measured. Notes are where requirements hide: a general tolerance statement, a burr and edge condition, a marking requirement, a cleanliness specification. A balloon count that is suspiciously low almost always means the notes were skipped, and a prime reviewer looks for exactly that.

Characteristic accountability in practice

Characteristic accountability means every balloon on the drawing has exactly one line on Form 3 and exactly one recorded result. Not a range. Not a pass stamp. A number, produced by a named instrument.

The measurement method matters as much as the value. A positional tolerance held inside a few ten thousandths of an inch verified with a hand gage is an opinion rather than a verification. At RJ Enterprises the inspection method follows the tolerance: coordinate measuring machines for geometric relationships and datum structures, optical measurement for profiles and small features, laser scan micrometers for turned diameters, and thread and pin gages where a functional gage is the correct answer. Every instrument carries calibration records traceable to national standards, with dates that bracket the inspection.

How the report is generated from CMM data

The report is built from measurement output rather than typed from a notepad. A part enters the climate controlled lab and is fixtured against the datum structure the drawing defines, not against whatever surface is convenient. The CMM program is written from the model and the ballooned print, so each measured feature carries its characteristic number from the start.

The CMM run produces a results file in which each feature is labeled with its balloon number, nominal, tolerance and actual. Those labeled results populate Form 3 directly, which removes the most common source of clerical error in FAI packages: transcription. Characteristics that a CMM cannot verify, such as thread class, surface roughness or a marking requirement, are measured separately and entered with their own named method. The equipment list behind that lab is what makes the approach practical on parts that carry both tight geometric relationships and fine turned detail.

Common reasons aerospace primes reject FAI packages

Most rejections are documentation failures rather than dimensional failures. The recurring ones:

• Drawing revision mismatch. The report references a revision other than the one on the purchase order.
• Missing balloons. Notes, general tolerances and surface finish callouts left unnumbered, so they were never measured.
• Results reported as a range or as a pass stamp rather than as actual measured values.
• Measurement method not stated, or a method obviously inadequate for the tolerance.
• Calibration gaps. Instrument calibration expired before or during the inspection.
• Incomplete Form 2. Special processing performed at a source not on the customer approved list, or certifications missing heat lot traceability.
• Unaddressed nonconformances. A characteristic out of tolerance with no disposition, no customer notification and no corrective action record.
• Unsigned or undated forms, including a missing customer approval block where the purchase order required one.

None of those are difficult to prevent. They are simply expensive to fix after a shipment has been quarantined at a receiving dock.

When a delta FAI is required

A delta FAI is a partial re-inspection covering only what changed, referenced back to the original full FAI. It is required when the process or the product moves in a way that could affect conformance:

• A drawing or engineering change that affects form, fit or function.
• A change in manufacturing location, machine or major tooling.
• A change in the manufacturing process, including a new fixture, a new operation sequence or a different special process source.
• A change in raw material source or specification.
• A lapse in production of the part, commonly two years, after which the process is no longer considered proven.
• A nonconformance that required a process change to correct.

The judgment call is scope. A delta FAI covers the affected characteristics plus any characteristic the change could plausibly influence, which is usually broader than the changed dimension alone. Documenting that reasoning inside the report is what separates a delta FAI a prime accepts from one that triggers a request for a full re-inspection.

Bringing a part in

FAI discipline is easiest when it is designed into the quote rather than added at the end. Programs that machine titanium and other difficult alloys or that involve Swiss turned medical components tend to carry the heaviest characteristic counts, and knowing that up front changes tooling, fixturing and lead time.

If you have a print, a revision and a quantity, send them through the request for quote form. Include the inspection requirements and any customer specific FAI format, and the quote will come back with the inspection plan priced as part of the job rather than discovered later.