AN ACR MDT WAS SURPRISED BY A LOW FLYING HELI XING HIS PATH.

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CLRED FOR TKOF RWY 15 DCA BY TWR; NO OTHER INFO. I WAS PNF. I SAW AN SMT HELI AS WE STARTED TKOF ROLL. I POINTED OUT TFC TO FO (PF). HE DECIDED TO CONTINUE TKOF. OUR ACFT WAS LIGHT; OUTSIDE AIR TEMP WAS COOL; GOOD CLB PERFORMANCE. HELI WAS FIRST SIGHTED IN OUR 10 O'CLOCK MOVING L TO R; AT APPROX 200 FT AGL. HIS FLT PATH WAS JUDGED TO CROSS OURS; HOWEVER; AT HIS SPD HE WOULD CROSS THE CTRLINE OF RWY 15 (DEP ZONE) BEFORE US. SO WE CONTINUED THE TKOF WITH NO WARNING OF TFC FROM TWR. THE TFC CONFLICT WAS NOT TOO SEVERE; BUT HAD WE LOST AN ENG ON TKOF; WE WOULDN'T HAVE CLB PERFORMANCE AND A CRITICAL TFC CONFLICT WOULD HAVE OCCURRED. THE PROB COULD BE AVOIDED IF THESE HELIS WERE GIVEN RTES AROUND THE ARPT THAT DON'T ENTER THE DEP AND ARR ZONES (WITHIN 2-3 MI OF ARPT). THE TWR CTLR IS REQUIRED TO AT LEAST ADVISE US OF HELI TFC (SEPARATION MEASURED IN THOUSANDS OF FT INSTEAD OF HUNDREDS OF FT; WOULD BE NICE; TOO). INTERESTINGLY ENOUGH; WHEN I ARRIVED AT DCA EARLIER; I OVERHEARD AN ACR PLT COMPLAINING TO TWR ABOUT HELI TFC AND RA FROM HIS TCASII. THE RESPONSE FROM DCA TWR; REGARDING HELI RTES CONFLICTING WITH ACFT LNDG WAS; 'THOSE RTES HAVE BEEN THERE FOR 20 YRS; THEY WON'T EVER CHANGE.' I SAY IT'S BEEN LONG ENOUGH. TIME TO CHANGE THOSE HELI RTES -- OR DO WE WAIT UNTIL AN ACCIDENT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH PROCS MAN REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: A CALL TO THE PROCS MAN ON DUTY AT DCA GOT THE INFO THAT HELIS FLYING THROUGH THE DCA AREA ARE ON A SEPARATE FREQ FROM FIXED WING ACFT OPERATING OUT OF DCA. HELIS ARE ENCOURAGED TO MONITOR THE FIXED WING TWR FREQ; BUT NOT ALL DO. HELI TFC IS BASICALLY RTED UP AND DOWN THE RIVERS FOR NOISE ABATEMENT REASONS OR OVER THE TOP OF THE ARPT AT 1000 FT WITH THE TWR CALLING DSCNT. MUCH OF THE HELI TFC AT DCA IS HIGH LEVEL MIL TFC THAT WOULD NOT LIKE TO SEE MANY CHANGES IN THE PROCS. THE TWR TRIES TO ANNOUNCE ALL HELI TFC TO AIRPLANES OPERATING AT DCA; BUT SOME IS MISSED. IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THE TWR CTLR DID NOT THINK THAT THIS SIT REQUIRED A WARNING.