AS9145 in one sentence
AS9145 is the aerospace standard for Advanced Product Quality Planning and Production Part Approval. The Control Plan is one of the planning deliverables. It is the document that carries agreed product and process controls into daily manufacturing.
The standard sits next to AS9100 (the quality system) and AS9103 (variation management of key characteristics). A Control Plan that ignores those two will not survive a prime’s supplier quality review even if the columns look familiar.
What has to be on the page
Formats vary by customer. Content does not. A usable aerospace Control Plan identifies, for each relevant characteristic:
- The process step / operation where the characteristic is created or verified.
- The product or process characteristic itself, in the language of the drawing or specification.
- Special / key / critical classification when the customer or the risk analysis requires it.
- The specification or tolerance.
- The evaluation method and equipment — not “inspect,” but the gauge, CMM program, visual standard or test method.
- Sample size and frequency that match the risk, not a default copied from the last job.
- The control method (error-proofing, first-piece, SPC, setup check, dock audit).
- A reaction plan that names who does what when the characteristic is out of limits.
If a column exists only because a template had it, and nobody on the floor can act on it, it is decoration.
How this differs from a generic AIAG Control Plan
The AIAG form is a starting grid, not the requirement. Aerospace packages usually also have to absorb:
- Configuration and revision control that matches the released drawing and the traveler.
- Special processes and outside processing, with the control sitting at the correct supplier operation.
- Key characteristic flow-down from the customer drawing, not only from internal preference.
- Record retention and traceability expectations that show up later in FAIR and PPAP-style submissions.
- Customer-specific column sets, stamps and classification symbols. Two primes rarely want the same sheet.
That is why AiroQue does not ship a house format. Two example Control Plans on this site show how differently the same deliverable can be structured.
The Control Plan is not a substitute for the PFMEA
AS9145 treats Process Flow, PFMEA and Control Plan as a set. A Control Plan written first, with the PFMEA filled in afterwards to match it, inverts the logic. Risk is supposed to drive control. If you already have both documents and they disagree, start with an alignment review, not another blank template.
What to send if you need one written
A released drawing or model, the routing as it runs, customer quality requirements, and any existing PFMEA or inspection plan. If technical data cannot leave the building yet, request an NDA from the contact page first. Control Plan development starts at $750; complex aerospace plans start at $1,500.