Since JetZero broke ground at Piedmont Triad International Airport on June 15, 2026, every machine shop owner in the Triad has heard the same question.
Are we going to get any of that work?
The governor's office put the project at $4.7 billion and more than 14,500 jobs, the largest economic development project in state history by job commitment. The site includes a research and development center for composite structures.
But a groundbreaking is not a purchase order. JetZero is targeting first deliveries of its Z4 in the early 2030s.
So do not chase one program. Become the kind of shop any aerospace buyer can approve.
Who you would actually sell to
Most small shops will never sell straight to an airframer. They sell to the companies that do. A machined bracket goes to a tier 2 supplier, who builds a subassembly for a tier 1, who delivers a structure or a system to the assembly plant.
That is good news, because aerospace is already here. GE Aerospace has 2,000 employees in North Carolina and is investing $160 million across four of its sites in the state, according to the governor's office. Your first aerospace customer is more likely an established plant like those, or one of its suppliers, than the name on the new building.
The paperwork comes first
There is no shortcut around the quality system. Aerospace buyers expect AS9100, the aviation, space and defense standard built on ISO 9001:2015. Revision D added dedicated clauses for product safety, counterfeit parts prevention and human factors.
The next edition, renamed IA9100, is expected in late 2026 or early 2027. If you are starting now, ask your registrar which version to build to.
Certified shops are listed in OASIS, the International Aerospace Quality Group's database of suppliers certified under its rules. A buyer can check you there before they ever call.
If you do heat treating, welding, coatings, chemical processing, nondestructive testing or materials testing, expect to be asked about Nadcap. It is the industry's accreditation for those special processes, administered by the Performance Review Institute.
And expect a first article inspection on your first job, documented to AS9102. Textron Systems' supplier rules, for example, call for a new one after a change in process, source or location of manufacture, and after two years without production.
What the certificate cannot show
The certificate tells a buyer your system exists. It does not tell them whether your floor runs it on a Tuesday afternoon with a rush job on the machine.
That is what a supplier development engineer wants to learn before spending a day to visit you. Here is what they look for.
The inspection room, in use. Someone measuring a real part and recording the result, not a CMM with the cover on.
A part's paper trail. Material certs, the traveler, the first article report, and who signs at each step from the saw to the shipping dock.
The people with the stamps. Who inspects, how long they have done it, and who is training the next one.
Your outside processes. If you send out heat treat or plating, name the approved shops. Buyers want to know you control your sources.
Where video helps, and where it does not
We make video, so here is the honest version. No film gets you AS9100, replaces an audit or stands in for a clean first article. If your quality system is not there yet, start there.
What a short capability film can do is let a buyer three states away walk your floor before they book the flight. It answers the screening questions above in a few minutes, and it gives your contact something to forward to their quality engineer. Naturally Nectar's founder now sends her film ahead of meetings with healthcare facilities. A capability film can go ahead of a supplier visit the same way.
One shoot day can do more than one job. When we filmed The Flame Detector, one test day produced three videos, each for a different moment in the buying process: the proof, the setup, and the founder explaining why it matters. A shop can do the same with a capability film for buyers, an inspection walkthrough for quality engineers, and a recruiting piece for the machinists you will need when the work shows up.
We walk the floor before shoot day, because that walk changes what we film. It is also the right time to decide which customer parts and drawings stay out of frame. If you are worried filming will disrupt production, here is what a shoot day actually involves.
Put the finished pieces on your quality page and in your RFQ responses. A plant tour video does most of that work on its own.
The short version
- A groundbreaking is not a purchase order. JetZero's first Z4 deliveries are targeted for the early 2030s.
- Your first aerospace customer is probably a plant already in the state, or one of its suppliers.
- AS9100 comes first, IA9100 is next, and special processes bring Nadcap questions.
- Video will not pass an audit for you. It gets a buyer to book the visit.