First Article Inspection Rejections Due to Incomplete Standard Adherence
Published .
Applicable Standards
AS9102Applicable Sections
- ✓Form 1 — Part Number Accountability
- ✓Form 3 — Characteristic Accountability
Related
- AS9100
Topics
- fai
- first-article
- as9102
- documentation
- compliance
- form-1
- form-3
- delta-fai
A supplier submitted a First Article Inspection (FAI) package to their customer for a new product. The supplier's team completed the FAI forms and performed the required measurements, believing they had met the general requirements. However, the internal review process lacked a detailed, clause-by-clause verification against the governing aerospace standard before submittal.
The customer's review identified multiple non-conformances within the FAI package. These issues included incomplete data for conditionally required fields on Form 3, a lack of documented rationale for delta FAI decisions, and mismatches between part data on Form 1 and the associated engineering definition.
Key Takeaways
- The FAI package was rejected, halting the production part approval process.
- This required the supplier to expend unplanned resources to correct the documentation, perform additional validation where necessary, and resubmit the entire package, causing a schedule delay.
- The customer's review identified multiple non-conformances within the FAI package.
Common Mistakes
- These issues included incomplete data for conditionally required fields on Form 3, a lack of documented rationale for delta FAI decisions, and mismatches between part data on Form 1 and the associated engineering definition.
- Missing balloon numbers on the drawing.
- Title block requirements not accounted for on Form 3.
- Incorrect or incomplete Form 1 part number traceability.
Best Practice
Organizations must ensure their FAI process includes a rigorous verification step that confirms the FAI package complies with every applicable requirement of AS9102. A superficial understanding is insufficient; teams must be trained on the specific criteria for all form fields, including conditionally required ones, and the procedural requirements for events like production lapses.
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