by James Wright | Aug 28, 2026 | Aerospace Compliance & Quality, Aerospace Machining, Defense Manufacturing
First article inspection is the reason your first aerospace production run costs more than every run after it. FAI per AS9102 is a complete dimensional verification of every single feature on the drawing — not a sampling plan, not a spot-check. Every dimension, every...
by James Wright | Aug 7, 2026 | Aerospace Compliance & Quality, Aerospace Machining, Blog, CNC Machining, Defense Manufacturing, Manufacturing & Cost Estimating
The single biggest sticker shock in aerospace machining isn’t the material or the machine time. It’s everything around them — the compliance documentation, the first-article inspection, the material certification, the ITAR overhead, the NRE for fixturing a part...