Aerospace & Defense Manufacturing worked example

First Article Inspection Load at 43% fair package and review allowance: a worked example

This worked example runs the first article inspection load numbers for a tougher week than the baseline: 43% fair package and review allowance instead of the typical 60%. Estimate AS9102 first article inspection hours from ballooned characteristics, verification pace, and FAIR package allowance.

The inputs for this scenario

  • Ballooned FAI characteristics: 265 characteristics (held at the documented default)
  • FAI verification pace: 3.2 characteristics/min (held at the documented default)
  • FAIR package and review allowance: 43 % (the input this scenario stresses; the baseline uses 60)

Working through the calculation

  • The calculation starts from the formula this tool documents: Base FAI verification time = ballooned characteristics รท FAI verification pace.
  • Total first article inspection load works out to 118 FAI hr at these inputs, and this is the headline figure for the scenario.
  • Base FAI verification time works out to 82.81 FAI hr at these inputs.
  • FAIR package and review allowance works out to 43 % at these inputs.
  • FAI verification pace works out to 3.2 characteristics/min at these inputs.

How this compares with the baseline

  • Against the tool's baseline example, where fair package and review allowance sits at 60% and the headline result is 133 FAI hr, this scenario comes in 10.63% below the baseline at 118 FAI hr.
  • Use it when planning a new-part first article, quoting first-article NRE, or scheduling inspector capacity for an AS9102 submission. A result at this level usually justifies acting on the stressed input before touching anything else, because every other figure in the table is downstream of it.

Results at a glance

  • Total first article inspection load: 118 FAI hr (headline result)
  • Base FAI verification time: 82.81 FAI hr
  • FAIR package and review allowance: 43 %
  • FAI verification pace: 3.2 characteristics/min

Run it with your numbers

  • To rerun this with your own numbers, open the live First Article Inspection Load calculator, set fair package and review allowance to your actual value, and adjust the remaining inputs to match your operation.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.