AS9100 aerospace quality training path · self-paced
Audit AS9100D on the floor, not in the binder. Prove the root cause. Stop fakes at the dock.Find it before the customer does. Fix it for good. Keep the fakes out.AI can write a corrective action in seconds. Be the one who knows if it will hold.
Learn to audit AS9100D the way an auditor tests it on the floor, take a problem from containment to a cause you can prove, and stop suspect parts at the dock. Coach Q works beside you on your own cases.
For quality engineers, internal auditors and quality managers at aerospace and defense suppliers.
- 3 live courses, in order
- 9 more on the way
- Step 1: about 7.5 hours
- Coach Q in every course
4 of 5 POs I sampled are missing the DFARS requirement. Major or minor?
Four of five is a pattern, not a slip. Pin down the PO numbers and dates, then grade it under your procedure.
Sound familiar?
If you work aerospace quality, you've heard these.
I'm the internal auditor because nobody else would do it.
Then you need a method, not last year's checklist. AS9100D Internal Auditor teaches you to plan by risk, follow one order from the PO to the shipping record and write findings as requirement, evidence and gap. You practice on a full mock audit first.
The customer rejected our 8D again. Operator error isn't a root cause.
Operator error tells them who. They want to know why the process let it happen. Root Cause Analysis and CAPA takes you from containment to a cause you can prove, then to a check that shows the fix held.
A broker lot came in with a signed C of C. Is that enough?
A C of C from the seller is the seller's paperwork. On its own it doesn't show the parts are genuine. Counterfeit Parts Avoidance shows you what evidence ties the part to the paper, and how to hold a suspect lot in the first 15 minutes.
It's one revision back. The parts fit anyway.
Fit is judged against the released drawing, not against how close the old one was. AS9100D Internal Auditor teaches you 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.
What it does for you
Be the one the shop trusts when a part escapes.
The audit that finds it first
Findings written as requirement, evidence and gap, with record numbers. When your internal audit catches the gap before the registrar or the customer does, the quality manager remembers who found it.
Fixes and calls that hold
An 8D your customer accepts the first time. A suspect lot held at the dock, kept out of flight hardware. Customers notice who gets those right. So does your boss.
Proof on your record
Working documents you built for your own shop, an Apply at work log of what you changed, and a certificate anyone can verify, ready for your training record and your next review.
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
Aerospace quality gets checked all the way down the supply chain.
In September 2025 the FAA proposed $3.1M in fines against Boeing and said it identified hundreds of quality system violations at Boeing's 737 factory and at subcontractor Spirit AeroSystems' 737 factory.
Those findings covered a subcontractor's factory, not just the prime's. In aerospace your customer's quality system runs through yours. Its clauses arrive on your PO, its reviewers read your 8Ds, and a part that escapes your shop becomes its problem too.
AS9100D asks you to audit your own system, act on the cause of a nonconformity and prevent counterfeit parts. This path trains all three on records like the ones on your floor: an audit that finds the gap first, a cause the evidence supports, and a receiving check that ties the part to its paper.
The full path
Find the gap, fix the cause, guard the dock.
Start with the audit, because it shows where your system is weak. Then root cause, to fix what the audit finds, then the receiving dock. Each course stands alone, so start where your job needs you.
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Step 1 · Audit like an aerospace auditor
AS9100D Internal Auditor
Work clauses 4 to 10 and what AS9100D adds: product safety, counterfeit parts, FOD, first article and special processes. Then run a mock audit of a fictional machine shop and take a 50-question final exam.
You walk out with a clause-by-clause audit checklist, findings written as requirement, evidence and gap, and a mock audit you called, graded and wrote up.
- About 7.5 hours
- Final exam
- Certificate anyone can verify
- Lesson 1 free
See what you get →The course page shows everything included, then the price.
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Step 2 · Make the fix stick
Root Cause Analysis & CAPA (AS13000)
Work the AS13000 8D from D0 to D8. Test every candidate cause against your own data with fishbone, 5-Why and Is/Is-Not, and set the effectiveness check before the fix goes in.
You walk out with an 8D written the way a customer's reviewer reads it, a 5-Why with evidence at every step, and a 90-day plan for your own CAPA system.
- About 21 hours
- Certificate anyone can verify
- Lesson 1 free
See what you get →The course page shows everything included, then the price.
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Step 3 · Keep fakes off the shelf
Counterfeit Parts Avoidance
Learn the six types of counterfeit and their tells, the SAE standards and DFARS clauses behind your program, and what to do in the first 15 minutes with a suspect lot. Ends with a 50-question final exam.
You walk out with a counterfeit prevention plan outline, a 15-minute containment checklist, a GIDEP summary and a 90-day prevention roadmap for your shop.
- About 10.5 hours
- Final exam
- Certificate anyone can verify
- Lesson 1 free
See what you get →The course page shows everything included, then the price.
On the way in this path
More aerospace courses are on the way, from first article and FMEA to configuration management and IA9100. Join the waitlist on the ones you need first.
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On the way
First Article Inspection (AS9102)
Build and check the three AS9102 forms on a real part.
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On the way
FMEA and Control Plans
Find failure modes before they reach the customer.
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On the way
Measurement Systems and Gage R&R
Know whether your gage can tell good parts from bad.
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On the way
APQP and PPAP (AS9145)
Plan new and changed parts the way AS9145 lays out.
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On the way
Key Characteristics (AS9103)
Control variation on the features that matter most.
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On the way
FOD Prevention (AS9146)
Set up a foreign object damage prevention program.
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On the way
Configuration Management
Keep the right revision from drawing to shipped part.
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On the way
IA9100 Transition
What changes from AS9100D, once the new standard publishes.
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On the way
Supplier Quality
Select, monitor and develop suppliers on evidence.
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 this path: short sessions where you make the call, a plan that fits your week, and an expert in your pocket in every course.
Coach Q · from AS9100D Internal Auditor
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 every course, no renewal fee.
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 · 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.
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.
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, the next 8D and the next broker lot. 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
Working documents for your own company, not notes.
In Course Hub you pick a template and give Coach Q your facts. It drafts a first version. You edit it, and it's yours to keep and use.
AS9100D Internal Auditor
- Internal Audit Checklist (clause-by-clause)Draft with Coach Q
- Internal Audit Report TemplateDraft with Coach Q
- First Article Inspection (AS9102) OutlineDraft with Coach Q
Root Cause Analysis & CAPA (AS13000)
- AS13000 8D Report TemplateDraft with Coach Q
- 5-Why Worksheet (Audit-Defensible Format)Draft with Coach Q
- CAPA Effectiveness Verification FormDraft with Coach Q
Counterfeit Parts Avoidance
- Receiving Inspection Criteria for High-Risk PartsDraft with Coach Q
- Suspect Counterfeit Part Investigation FormDraft with Coach Q
- Quarantine & Disposition ProcedureDraft with Coach Q
Who built it
From the audit table and the aerospace shop floor.
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 built these courses from the requirements and from the floor: what an auditor asks, which records to pull, and what holds up when a customer's reviewer checks the work.
He's COO of PTX Defense, an AS9100D-certified aerospace manufacturer, so he lives with these requirements from the supplier side, down to the lots that cross the dock. He founded QMS Leader, which implements quality management systems for manufacturers, and has trained people at PTX Defense, Alva Manufacturing, Paramount Extrusions, Rikelo Motion Systems and Global Airtech.
Check us before you pay
- Take lesson 1 free. The real first lesson of any course on the path, with Coach Q. No card.
- Look Will up. His LinkedIn profile lists the work behind the courses.
- Check a certificate. Every certificate can be confirmed at academy.qmslearning.com/verify.
- Keep your exit. 3 days after you buy a course to ask for a refund.
Try before you buy
Try it before you pay. Change your mind after.
Before you pay
Lesson 1 is free.
Every live course on the path has a free first lesson, with the exercises and Coach Q. Start with step 1 and judge it yourself.
Try lesson 1 free ↑After you buy
3 days to change your mind.
Email will@qmslearning.com within 3 days of buying a course for a refund. A refund ends access to that course. Refund policy
Company pays
Send it to your manager.
We wrote the email for you, with each course on the path and a link to what it includes. Need a quote or a PO? Email will@qmslearning.com.
Send this to my manager →Questions
Straight answers.
Do I have to take them all?
No. Each course stands on its own, with its own price, its own certificate and lesson 1 free. The path is the order we'd take them in.
Which one should I start with?
If you've just been handed internal audits, start with AS9100D Internal Auditor. If a customer bounced your last 8D, start with Root Cause Analysis and CAPA. If you buy from brokers or independent distributors, start with Counterfeit Parts Avoidance.
Is this an accredited certification?
No. Each course ends with a certificate from QMS Learning that anyone can check at academy.qmslearning.com/verify. It isn't an accredited auditor credential, and it doesn't certify your company. Your registrar does that. AS9100D Internal Auditor and Counterfeit Parts Avoidance also end with a final exam.
Is AS9100D going away?
IA9100, the planned next revision of the 9100 standard, is targeted for late 2026, with a transition period expected after it publishes. That's a target, not a confirmed date. The audit skills carry over: requirement, evidence, gap. An IA9100 Transition course is on the way.
We don't buy electronics. Is the counterfeit course still for us?
Yes. AS9100D 8.1.4 asks for processes to prevent counterfeit parts, not just electronic ones. Electronics get deep coverage, and the course also covers fasteners and other hardware, with physical and material testing.
Training a team?
Open any course on the path and pick how many people before you check out. Five or more people get 10% off every seat, applied at checkout. Each person gets their own login, private coach, study plan and certificate. More than 50 people, or need an invoice instead? Email will@qmslearning.com for a quote.
How long do I keep access?
The lessons are yours for life, and Coach Q comes with your course and stays with you after you finish. There's no subscription or renewal fee.
Does the course keep up when the rules change?
Yes, for the edition it teaches. When the rules or guidance behind this course change, we update the lessons and the coach's setup, and you get the update at no extra charge. When a new edition replaces the standard, we point you to the transition training. Your conversations with Coach Q aren't used to train AI models.
The AS9100 Aerospace Quality path
Make your first AS9100D audit call. Lesson 1 is free.
- Step 1: AS9100D Internal AuditorAbout 7.5 hours
- Step 2: Root Cause Analysis & CAPA (AS13000)About 21 hours
- Step 3: Counterfeit Parts AvoidanceAbout 10.5 hours
Lessons for life. Coach Q comes with every course, no renewal fee.
Ready to buy? Pick a course from the path. Each course page shows everything included, then the price.