AS9100D internal auditor training · self-paced

Audit AS9100D from the PO to the shipping dock. Find where the paper and the floor split.

Taught by Will Trikha, third-party registrar auditor.

Learn clauses 4 to 10 and the aerospace requirements AS9100D adds to ISO 9001, then plan, run and write up an audit. Prove it on a mock audit of an aerospace machine shop, with Coach Q beside you.

Internal auditors, quality engineers, inspectors and quality managers at aerospace manufacturers and suppliers that hold AS9100D or are working toward it.

See everything you get ↓ Lessons for life · coach included, no renewal fee

About 7.5 hours
Self-paced
Mock audit
Verifiable certificate

Lesson 1 of AS9100D Internal Auditor, a real screen from the course — Real screen from this courseLesson 1 is free

Sound familiar?

Every aerospace internal auditor has heard these.

The registrar found it. We didn't.

When an outside auditor writes up what the internal audit walked past, everyone asks who audited that process. You learn to follow one order from the customer's PO to the shipping record, pick your own sample from the full list, and find the gap first.

It's one revision back. The parts fit anyway.

Fit is judged against the released drawing, not against how close the old one was. You learn to line up the release date, the traveler and the first article, then count what was built to the old revision. That count tells the company what to contain.

The cert matches the part number. Put it in stock.

A certificate is paper, and it's the paper counterfeiters copy first. You learn to audit source approval, receiving checks and the suspect part hold, so verification ties the part to the paper.

Is this a major or a minor?

AS9100D only says nonconformity. Major, minor and OFI are a scheme your company writes down, and the evidence has to earn the grade. You practice grading under a written convention and stating why, so the closing meeting argues the fix, not the label.

What it does for you

Be the auditor the shop trusts with the hard areas.

Findings nobody can argue away

Requirement, evidence and gap, with record numbers. When your findings hold up in the closing meeting, people start asking for you by name.

The one who finds it first

When your internal audit finds the gap before the registrar or the customer does, that's a save the quality manager remembers.

Proof on your record

A mock audit you called and wrote up, a 50-question final exam and a certificate anyone can verify, for your training record and your LinkedIn.

No course can promise you a raise or a title. What you'll have is the skill, the work to show for it and a certificate anyone can verify. That's what those conversations run on.

Why it matters

Every 9100 certificate comes with an internal audit a registrar tests.

1,792

IAQG's 2025 Annual Report lists 1,792 initial 9100 certifications issued in 2025, alongside 5,301 recertifications.

Source: IAQG 2025 Annual Report, Certification Oversight Team highlights

Aerospace buyers use IAQG's OASIS database to select and watch suppliers. Certified sites are listed there, and audit results go in too, visible to a customer when the supplier shares them. Customers also flow their own clauses down on the PO: approved special process sources, first article, specialty metals.

Under clause 9.2 your audit program gets audited too: the schedule, the auditor's independence, the reports. A gap your internal audit finds is a corrective action your company owns. The same gap found by the registrar or a customer is their finding, in their report.

What you'll learn

Every clause, audited on the records you'd pull.

In the order you'd learn the job: the system, clauses 4 to 10, the aerospace requirements, the audit itself, where AI fits, and a mock audit. Nearly every lesson puts a record in front of you and asks what you'd write up.

01Module 1 · Foundations

Tell a working system from a binder

A quality system is how a shop plans the work, does it, proves it and reacts when it goes wrong. You audit it by following a part, not by counting procedures. You also learn who writes the 9100 series, how it's policed, and how risk and the process approach show up on the floor.

The three-part test on a superseded work instruction taped to the Op 40 deburr bench
The 9100 family and OASIS, where audit results are shared only with the supplier's OK
Turtle diagrams and PDCA: a missed target is data. No response to it is what you chase

02Module 2 · Clauses 4 to 10

Audit every clause from context to improvement

Each clause comes with a record to audit and a call to make. Clause 7 findings hide in dates, revisions and certifications. Clause 8 follows the order, because many aerospace escapes start on paper, before a chip is cut. Clause 10 is where paperwork closes faster than the problem does.

8.2.3.1: an order acknowledged four days before contract review, flow-down box left blank
8.4 and 8.7: a supplier Approved after two escapes, use as is with no customer approval
10.2: a root cause of operator error is unfinished. Find what the process let happen

03Module 3 · Aerospace

Audit what AS9100D adds on top of ISO 9001

Product safety, counterfeit parts prevention, FOD, configuration management, first article inspection, special processes and operational risk. A wrong call here can reach an aircraft, so each lesson hands you the record that proves the control works: a receiving log, a traveler, a first article package, a penetrant line.

8.1.4: 300 bolts from an unapproved broker, 40 percent cheaper, accepted on a C of C alone
8.1.2 and AS9102C: a first article on Rev C after Rev D released, one characteristic short
8.5.1.2: a UV-A meter past due on 14 penetrant runs. The as-found result decides product

04Modules 4 and 5 · The audit

Plan, run, write and grade an audit that holds up

From a risk-based audit program under 9.2.2 to checklists built from the process, fieldwork, interviews and the closing meeting. Then the parts people argue about: how the finding reads, how it's graded, and what you do when someone pushes back.

Requirement, evidence and gap, with no names and no fix. The process owner owns the fix
Major, minor and OFI are your company's written scheme. A broken clause is never an OFI
Questions only a record can answer. Findings move with the evidence, never for a shipment

05Module 6 · AI in the audit

Use AI for audit prep, and catch what it invents

AI is good at drafting questions from your own procedure and sorting last year's findings. It can't see your floor, and it can state an invented clause number in a confident voice. The rule for the module: the AI proposes, a named auditor checks and decides.

Fix an AI-drafted calibration checklist with an invented 7.1.5.3 and a fake 12-month rule
Prompts that ask for evidence, not a verdict, with export-controlled data kept out
Six checks before you sign, and a one-page AI plan reviewed before your next audit

06Module 7 · Mock audit

Audit Harrow Point Machining, start to finish

A fictional 85-person Arizona shop that machines structural parts for a prime. You read the profile, check the plan, work two days of evidence and grade each item under the shop's own convention. Then a 50-question final exam, 80 percent to pass.

Supplier control: a titanium source approved with no evaluation, a blank country of melt
NDT: a penetrant technician's certification lapsed, and 47 parts were released after it
Document control and NCRs: rev C at CNC 7, and hold tags past 90 days with no disposition

Who built it

Built from both sides of the audit table.

Will Trikha

Founder and CEO, QMS Learning · Third-party registrar auditor

Will Trikha is a third-party registrar auditor with more than 20 years in aerospace and quality. He wrote this course from the requirements and from the floor: what an auditor asks, which records to pull, and how a finding has to read to survive the closing meeting.

He's also COO of PTX Defense, an AS9100D-certified aerospace manufacturer, so he lives with these requirements from the supplier side too. He founded QMS Leader, a consulting firm that implements quality management systems for manufacturers.

Organizations Will has trained

PTX Defense
Alva Manufacturing
Paramount Extrusions
Rikelo Motion Systems
Global Airtech

Where an aerospace auditor looks first

The revision at the point of useNot the copy in the binder. Line up the release date, the traveler and the copy at the bench. A superseded revision at the machine is a finding. What the new revision changed decides how serious it is.
Two dates that can't both be trueA contract review signed after the order was acknowledged. A borescope stamped before the wash. A certificate dated after the parts arrived. When dates fight, the record can't prove what it says.
The word Approved on a supplier listApproved is a claim. The proof is a certificate checked at the source, performance data someone acted on, and the customer's approval where the PO calls for an approved special process source.
Everything released since a lapseA gage past its due date or an NDT certification that ran out puts every acceptance since in question. Ask for the list of what was released and where it is now. It goes through the nonconforming product process, and parts already shipped may mean telling the customer.

From a learner Will Trikha trained

“i love the course, its been super helpful in getting me ready for the 3rd party audit coming up.”

Carlos Chuck · Quality Manager

Check us before you pay

Take lesson 1 free. The real first lesson with Coach Q. No card.
Look Will up. His LinkedIn profile lists the work behind the course.
Check a certificate. Every certificate can be confirmed at academy.qmslearning.com/verify.
Keep your exit. 3 days after you buy to ask for a refund.

The usual way, and this course

Knowing the clause isn't the same as auditing it.

Reading 8.4 takes a minute. Auditing it takes a supplier list, a purchase order, a receiving log and a call you can defend.

The usual way

This course

What you practice on

Clause text, and quiz questions about it

Travelers, supplier lists, NCRs and first article packages to audit

How findings read

Opinions like "document control is weak"

Requirement, evidence and gap the auditee can check in five minutes

How you prove it

A multiple-choice quiz

A mock audit you call, grade and write up, then a 50-question final exam

How it fits you

The same pace and the same examples for everyone

A study plan sized to your week, and a coach that works on your own job

When you're stuck

Email the instructor and wait for a reply

Ask Coach Q on any screen, any hour

After you finish

Access often ends after a year

Lessons for life, kept up to date, and a coach that stays with you

Not like training used to be

Short, hands-on, built around you. And the coach stays.

Training used to mean days in a classroom or hours of video. Here are real screens from AS9100D Internal Auditor: short sessions where you make the call, a plan that fits your week, and an expert in your pocket.

Coach Q · your expert on call

4 of 5 POs I sampled for safety-critical fasteners are missing the DFARS requirement our procedure calls for. Major or minor?

COACH Q

Four of five is a pattern, not a slip, and on safety-critical fasteners the risk is nonconforming material reaching flight hardware. Grade it under your company's written scheme. That call is yours.

Before you write it, pin down the evidence: the procedure and paragraph, the PO numbers and dates, and who placed them. Then ask what has already been received against those POs. That's your containment question, and it belongs in the finding.

Coaching, not decisions. You make the call. Comes with your course, no renewal fee.

Study plan: a real screen from AS9100D Internal Auditor

Study plan · Your personal trainer

Tell it your goal date. It builds sessions around your week and shows each day whether you're on plan, so the course actually gets finished.

Focus timer: a real screen from AS9100D Internal Auditor

Focus timer · 25 minutes, no tab-hopping

One click starts a focused session, and it follows you from lesson to lesson. Short sessions are how busy people finish.

Course Hub: a real screen from AS9100D Internal Auditor

Course Hub · Audit documents drafted with you

Pick a template, give Coach Q your facts, get a working draft you edit and keep: internal audit checklist, audit report, risk-based process worksheet, corrective action form.

Apply at work: a real screen from AS9100D Internal Auditor

Apply at work · Proof your boss can see

Log what you tried, what happened and how you know. Record your manager's sign-off with their name and date, and export the log for your performance review.

Today view: a real screen from AS9100D Internal Auditor

Today view · One look and you know what's next

Your goal, days left, lessons done, your streak and today's session.

Built around you

Give the study plan your goal date and it sizes each session to your week. Coach Q works on the facts you bring from your own job, so the examples are yours, not a textbook's.

Hands-on, not hours of video

Lessons are built around calls you make: read the record, sort the evidence, catch the mistake. Checks and labs score you on the spot, and your first win comes in the first few minutes of lesson 1.

Stays with you. Stays current.

Coach Q doesn't leave when you finish. It comes with your course, no subscription and no renewal fee, so it's there for the next audit, and the one after that. When the rules behind this course change, we update the lessons and the coach's setup, and we move the coach to newer AI models as we test them.

What you walk out with

You don't just learn the clauses. You practice the audit.

A turtle diagram before you walk in

Inputs, outputs, resources, people, methods and measures for the process you're about to audit.

Questions that produce evidence

Yes-or-no questions rewritten as “show me” and “walk me through.”

Findings: requirement, evidence, gap

With the clause, document ID, part number and date, checked against a model answer.

Major, minor or OFI, with a reason

Classified by systemic nature and impact, with a containment recommendation.

An aerospace eye on the floor

Product safety, counterfeit parts, FOD, first article and special processes.

Mock audit findings, called and written

Supplier control, NDT, document control and nonconforming material.

Inside the course

The course, step by step.

About 7.5 hours, self-paced, in short sessions that fit your week.

QMS Foundations

Quality principles, IAQG standards, risk-based thinking, and the process approach. 4 lessons.

AS9100D Clause by Clause

Deep dive into every clause from Context (4) through Improvement (10). 8 lessons.

Aerospace-Specific Requirements

Product safety, counterfeit parts, FOD, configuration management, and special processes. 5 lessons.

Audit Process Mastery

Planning, checklists, conducting audits, writing NCRs, and classifying findings. 6 lessons.

Advanced Audit Skills

Interviewing techniques, difficult situations, ethics, and professional reporting. 4 lessons.

AI-Enhanced Auditing

Using AI for preparation, document review, prompt engineering, and ethical use. 5 lessons.

Practical Assessment

Mock audit of Harrow Point Machining: put it all together. 2 lessons.

The itemized list

Everything you get.

Each priced line shows what a comparable item costs from another provider, with the source, so you can check it yourself. The included lines are what get the course finished. Checked October 12, 2026.

AS9100D Internal Auditor · itemAdding up: $1,804

The AS9100D Internal Auditor course

$1,325

QMS foundations, every clause from 4 through 10, the aerospace requirements (product safety, counterfeit parts, FOD, first article, special processes) and the full audit process. 21 audit scenarios with explained answers and 13 practice exercises.

COMPARABLE · ASQ, AS9100 Internal Auditor Training, non-member price, live virtual, 24 hours; no sessions were scheduled when we checked (asq.org, Oct 2026): $1,325

Course Hub with AI-drafted audit documents

$229

An internal audit checklist, an audit report, a risk-based process worksheet and a corrective action form. Coach Q drafts each from your facts, you edit, save and download.

COMPARABLE · Advisera, ISO 9001 Internal Audit Toolkit, 4 documents: $229

Coach Q, your expert in your pocket

$250

Ask the question you'd ask a lead auditor, any hour. It points you to the clause, the evidence to look for and the next step. The classification stays your call. No subscription or renewal fee. It stays with you after the course, and we keep its setup current when the rules change.

COMPARABLE · MoreSteam, E-Learning Support, 1 hour of coaching: $250

A mock audit, start to finish

Included

Four pieces of evidence at a fictional aerospace machine shop: supplier control, NDT, document control and nonconforming material. You decide which are findings, classify them and write them up.