Lead: If a forum thread, a study guide or a vendor page tells you to study Part 109 for your drone certificate, you can stop looking. There is no Part 109 in today's 14 CFR — not for drones, not for anything else. It was withdrawn more than two decades ago.

What Part 109 used to be

14 CFR Part 109 was Indirect Air Carrier Security — the security rules for freight forwarders and cargo screening in the air cargo supply chain. When the civil aviation security rules were reorganized after 2001, those duties moved to the Transportation Security Administration, and Part 109 was removed from Title 14 in 2002.

The regulations that replaced it live in TSA's rules (49 CFR 1540, 1544 and 1548) and in the security programs TSA approves for cargo.

Why you still see it referenced

  • Old advisory circulars. Airport and emergency-planning documents from the 1990s still cite Part 109 in their reference lists.
  • Training material that was never updated. Some study guides copied regulation indexes from an era before the transfer.
  • Numbering confusion. Title 14 has retired parts, reserved numbers and gaps. A missing part is not a part you have to comply with.

What to study instead

| If you want to know about | Read | | --- | --- | | Flying a drone for money | Part 107 | | BVLOS operations | Part 108, still proposed | | Flying for fun | Section 44809 and the TRUST test | | Shipping cargo by air | TSA cargo security rules, 49 CFR 1540 / 1544 / 1548 | | Local limits on where you fly | State statutes and local ordinances |

The habit worth keeping

A rule you cannot open in the Electronic Code of Federal Regulations is not a rule you can comply with. Before you build a procedure, a training module or a client promise on a citation, pull it up on the eCFR and check two things: that the part exists, and that it says what the source claimed.

That single habit prevents most of the regulation folklore that circulates in this industry.

Bottom line

Part 109 is retired history. Your working set is Part 107, the proposed Part 108, Remote ID and airspace authorization, plus the state and local rules where you operate — all mapped out in our drone compliance reference.