AWS D17.1 Endorsement

It is one of the endorsements AWS lists under CWI and SCWI Endorsements, appearing in the same list as Structural Steel (D1.1), Structural Aluminum (D1.2), Bridge Welding (D1.5), Railroad (D15.1), Pipeline (API 1104), Magnetic Particle Testing, Penetrant Testing (PT), ASME BPVC Section IX, and the coordination endorsements. It adds aerospace-specific code knowledge to an inspector credential.

CWIs and inspector candidates who review or witness welding in aerospace fabrication, where acceptance criteria and qualification records follow the aerospace specification rather than structural steel rules. If your work is structural, D1.1 or D1.5 is the better first endorsement; add D17.1 when aerospace work is actually in your scope.

Beginning January 15, 2026, AWS will no longer accept paper applications for Certifications or Endorsements. All applications must be submitted online through the My AWS Portal. Create or log in to your account and complete the application digitally; AWS points candidates to its Portal Application Submission Instructions for guidance on the process.

Start with the aerospace specification itself: scope, procedure qualification, personnel qualification, and acceptance criteria. Then work outward to the inspection tasks those clauses imply, such as verifying that qualified procedures and welders are in use and that records are complete. Only after that should you drill practice questions, so answers are anchored in the clause text.

Candidates most often lose points by answering from structural-steel habits instead of the aerospace specification, and by confusing procedure qualification with personnel qualification. A second common weakness is acceptance criteria: knowing a discontinuity is present but not recalling which provision governs its disposition. Read each question for which document and which party is being asked about.

Difficulty is relative to your existing code background. Inspectors who already work with aerospace procedures and records generally find the endorsement manageable; those coming only from D1.1 should budget extra time for qualification and documentation topics. AWS does not publish an endorsement-specific pass rate, so treat any figure you hear as unofficial.

AWS directs candidates to the AWS Program Price List for up-to-date pricing on all certifications, and the source does not state an endorsement-specific fee. Likewise, no endorsement-specific duration or turnaround is published. Confirm both through the Program Price List and your My AWS Portal account before scheduling.

AWS states that renewal and recertification rules depend on the specific credential, and that some require regular recertification while others do not expire if skills are maintained. For the SCWI path built from four endorsements, AWS lists renewal every 5 years and recertification every 10 years. Confirm your own credential's cycle in the portal.

AWS offers education in dual-format in-person training, online instructor-led training, and self-paced online training. AWS also notes that while you cannot earn a welding certification fully online, you can take online training and exam preparation courses and then schedule your certification test at a Prometric computer-based testing facility.

AWS states the standalone SCWI exam is retired and that the new path is to complete four required endorsements: WPQ1, WPQ2, WCQA, and NDEC. The D17.1 aerospace endorsement is a separate code endorsement and is not one of those four, so plan your endorsements according to which credential you are actually pursuing.