How to fill AS9102 Form 2: product accountability done right
Form 3 gets all the attention, but Form 2 is where most first-time aerospace FAI submissions actually fail. It is the Product Accountability sheet: materials, special processes and functional tests, each one traceable back to a certificate. Here is every field, with a worked example and the five places auditors will reject you.
What AS9102 Form 2 covers
AS9102 splits a first article inspection into three forms. Form 1 is Part Number Accountability — the part, its drawing revision, and the sub-assembly index. Form 2 is Product Accountability — the raw materials, the special processes, and any functional testing, each proven with a certificate. Form 3 is Characteristic Accountability — every dimension measured against the drawing.
Think of Form 2 as answering one question for the customer: is the part made of the right material, processed by approved suppliers, and tested where the drawing demands it? If any cert is missing, expired, or points to the wrong specification revision, the part is not airworthy on paper — regardless of how good the dimensions on Form 3 look.
For this walkthrough we use the same part as our Form 3 example: a machined 7075-T6 aluminium mounting bracket, with anodise per the drawing and a hardness check after heat treat.
Step 1: The header block
The Form 2 header repeats the identity fields from Form 1 so each sheet stands alone in an audit. Fill these exactly as on Form 1 — a mismatch here is an instant rejection:
- Part Number (including dash number and revision suffix)
- Part Name
- Drawing Number and Revision
- FAIR Number (identical across Forms 1, 2 and 3)
- Page X of Y across all Form 2 sheets
Step 2: Materials and raw stock
List every raw material that goes into the part. For each one you record the specification, the certificate, and the traceability fields. The columns map like this:
| Field | What it means | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Material / Process | The raw material name | Aluminium 7075-T6 plate |
| Specification Number | Drawing-called spec | AMS 4045 |
| Code | Special process / material code | RAW |
| Supplier | Mill or stockist | Hindalco / approved stockist |
| Cert Number | Mill test certificate | MTC-7075-2261 |
| Heat / Lot | Traceability batch | Heat 5512-A |
The single most important rule: the specification revision on the certificate must match the drawing callout. If the drawing calls AMS 4045 and the mill cert references an older revision, you either get a customer concession or you reject the lot. Auditors check this line every time.
Step 3: Special processes
A special process is one whose result you cannot fully verify by inspecting the finished part — heat treatment, anodising, plating, passivation, NDT, welding, and chemical conversion coatings. AS9102 requires each to be listed with its process spec and an approval reference.
- Heat treat — spec (for example AMS 2770 for the 7075-T6 condition), supplier, and certificate number.
- Anodise — type and class per the drawing (for example MIL-A-8625 Type II Class 1), supplier, cert number.
- NDT — method (FPI, X-ray), acceptance spec, and the Level II/III sign-off reference.
Step 4: Functional tests
If the drawing or a referenced spec calls for a functional or material test — tensile, hardness, conductivity, proof-load, leak — it goes on Form 2 with the acceptance criteria and the recorded result. For our bracket the drawing requires a hardness check after heat treat:
| Test | Requirement | Result | Method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hardness | HRB 87 min (7075-T6) | HRB 91 | Rockwell tester |
| Conductivity | 32–40 %IACS | 36 %IACS | Eddy current |
Conductivity testing on 7075 is a common customer requirement because it confirms the heat-treat condition indirectly — a useful cross-check when you cannot destructively test the actual part. If you also report process capability on any of these, our Cp and Cpk calculator and the Cp vs Cpk guide show how to present it cleanly.
The traceability chain auditors follow
An aerospace auditor reads Form 2 as a chain. Each link must connect to the next, with no gaps:
- Drawing calls a material spec → mill cert references the same spec and revision.
- Mill cert heat number → appears on your goods-inward record and the cut tag.
- Special process cert → names the same part or lot, by an approved supplier.
- Functional test report → references the same lot, with results inside limits.
- Every certificate → dated within its validity and matching the FAIR number.
Break any link — a heat number that does not carry through, a cert that names a different lot — and the submission stalls while you chase paperwork. Build the chain as you make the part, not the night before submission.
Five rejections that come back to Form 2
- Expired special-process certs. Valid at PO date, expired by the time the process ran.
- Material cert with no heat/lot trace. The cert exists but cannot be tied to the actual stock used.
- Spec revision mismatch. Drawing calls Rev N of a spec, cert references Rev M.
- Sub-tier supplier not named. Anodising sent out but the supplier and approval left off the form.
- Functional test left blank. A referenced spec required a test that nobody recorded.
When you are ready to record the dimensional side, MetricMech's free AS9102 Form 2 builder structures the material, process and functional rows with the traceability fields above, and the Form 3 builder handles the characteristics with auto pass/fail. Grab the matching layout from our FAI templates to start.