Background. 6 years ago when I got my instrument ticket I wanted use it to fly into the Washington, DC Flight Restricted Zone "FRZ" or Air Defense Identification Zone "ADIZ". I got fingerprinted, photographed, paid multiple application fees, had my logbook pored over by the FSDO, submitted TSA forms and made about 5 trips here and there getting vetted. I also made friends with the manager of Potomac Airfield VKX so he could be my assigned "Airport Security Officer" or ASO. I was assigned a unique PIN number, and was granted clearance to fly into the "Maryland 3" which are the only 3 General Aviation airports within 10 miles of the White House. Not many people have that clearance for piston aircraft, although any pilot can apply.

All that fuss, and I failed to use my ID a single time until this July Fourth holiday. I am thinking, Fourth of July weekend I need to use this pain-in-the-butt ID to fly into Potomac and see the fireworks in Washington. Small catch however: my Airport Security Coordinator (ASC) was in Italy for the week and couldn't be there to grant my ASC authorization to use the Potomac airport. So I end up choosing Indian Head about ten miles south which is outside the FRZ and paid a heck of a cab fare to see those fireworks.

Anybody else with one of these clearances out there wondering why they ever bothered getting one?