[Scan-DC] DCA Tower 134.35 vs. 119.1

[Ed Tobias]

When I worked at WASH 1973-78, and Walt Starling was doing traffic from his C152, DCA tower had Walt use the chopper frequency. He flew around the Beltway from College Park, counter-clockwise to I95 in VA, up 395 and across DCA, up the Anacostia to the BWP and back to the Beltway. 

Walt flew at 1,200 feet. The WTOP traffic aircraft, a C172 as I remember, flew the same pattern and altitude, starting at Manassas and later at Freeway. They tried to fly at opposite sides of the Beltway. 

The two were the only fixed-wing aircraft, as far as I know, to use the chopper frequency. It allowed the tower to follow them separately from the takeoff/landing traffic and work them with the low-flying choppers. It also allowed the two pilots to keep track of each other. 

I think Steve Thompson, who was TOP’s traffic reporter in the late 70s, subscribes to this list and may have info to add. 

Ed

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 26, 2021, at 8:41 AM, Dewey <dewey3 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> I'm not saying that they don't, but I've never heard a helicopter on 119.1,
> or a plane on 134.35.  Despite my distance from the airport itself, I get
> pretty good reception of DCA... tower, ground, and clearance controller
> comms, which I guess is because of my proximity to the river.
> Unfortunately, I can't answer the ground frequency question for helos,
> because my coverage of DCA ground equipment can be spotty.
> 
> Dewey
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net <scan-dc-bounces at mailman.qth.net> On
> Behalf Of Alan Henney
> Sent: Monday, January 25, 2021 22:39
> To: Scan DC <Scan-DC at mailman.qth.net>
> Subject: Re: [Scan-DC] DCA Tower 134.35 vs. 119.1
> 
> Thank you for the many thoughtful replies.
> 
> How often do helicopters use 119.1?  Which freq do those helos that land at
> DCA use?
> 
> Alan 
> 
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