There is no single aerospace-wide retention period for NCR records. In practice, NCR records must be retained for at least as long as the strictest applicable requirement from the customer contract, purchase order flowdowns, regulatory obligations, internal QMS procedures, and program-specific quality clauses. Many aerospace programs require retention for years after shipment, final payment, contract closeout, or product retirement, but the exact trigger and duration are site- and customer-specific.
AS9100 requires organizations to retain documented information for nonconforming outputs, including the nature of the nonconformity, actions taken, concessions obtained, and the authority deciding the action. AS9100 does not, by itself, give one universal number of years for every NCR record.
The actual retention period is commonly set by a combination of:
If those sources conflict, the conservative operating assumption is usually to follow the longest applicable retention requirement unless the customer or legal function has formally approved a different approach. This should be controlled through documented procedure, not informal tribal knowledge.
A generic answer such as “keep NCRs for seven years” may be wrong for a specific aerospace program. Some customers require longer retention. Some records are tied to product lifecycle, airworthiness, traceability, or serialized hardware. Others may be governed by contract closeout rules or government flowdowns. A supplier making build-to-print brackets may face different obligations than a facility producing flight-critical rotating hardware, avionics, or defense articles.
The retention clock also matters. One program may define retention from final shipment. Another may use contract completion, last delivery, acceptance, end of production, or retirement of the product. If the trigger is not defined, it should be clarified before records are archived or destroyed.
Retention is not only about keeping a PDF. The retained record should remain usable and traceable. Depending on the process, that may include the NCR, affected part numbers and serial numbers, lot information, inspection results, disposition, MRB or customer approval, rework or repair instructions, concession or deviation records, linked CAPA or RCCA activity, and evidence that the approved disposition was executed.
In brownfield environments, this information may be split across MES, ERP, PLM, QMS, document control, inspection systems, and file repositories. If links break, user accounts disappear, attachments are not migrated, or audit trails are lost, the organization may technically have “records” but not usable evidence. That is a common failure mode during system migrations and should be addressed through validation, data mapping, and change control.
The defensible approach is to maintain a formal record retention matrix for NCRs and related quality records. It should identify the record type, owner, system of record, retention trigger, retention duration, applicable customer or regulatory source, archive method, access controls, and destruction approval process.
For active aerospace programs, do not rely only on a default corporate document retention policy. Confirm the requirement against current contracts and customer flowdowns, especially before closing a program, changing QMS platforms, migrating MES or ERP data, or decommissioning legacy systems.
Whether you're managing 1 site or 100, Connect 981 adapts to your environment and scales with your needs—without the complexity of traditional systems.
Whether you're managing 1 site or 100, C-981 adapts to your environment and scales with your needs—without the complexity of traditional systems.
