AN ACR ACFT DESTINED FOR REGAN INTL IS ALMOST VECTORED INTO THE 'DULLES RECOVERY PROC' BY APCH CTLR WHEN THE FO FAILS TO ADHERE TO THE ESTABLISHED CHK IN PROC IN USE AT THE DC ADIZ NEAR AML; VA.

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AS THE PLT FLYING THE ACFT; I WAS MONITORING THE ACFT'S DSCNT TO 15000 FT WHICH WAS OUR CLRNC FROM ZDC (WE HAD BEEN CLRED TO CROSS FINKS INTXN AT 15000 FT ON THE PUBLISHED ARR FOR WASHINGTON'S REAGAN NATL ARPT). SINCE WE WERE OPERATING IMC WITH RAIN SHOWERS THROUGHOUT THE AREA; I WAS ALSO READJUSTING THE WX RADAR ANTENNA TILT AS THE AUTOPLT ENTERED THE ALT CAPTURE MODE. DURING THIS TIMEFRAME; ZDC INSTRUCTED US TO CONTACT POTOMAC APCH CTL ON 126.55 MHZ. MY FO THOUGHT THAT THE NEW FREQ WAS STILL ZDC; AND FAILED TO RPT THE ATIS CODE AND THE CODE WORD FOR THE DAY. POTOMAC APCH CAME BACK AND ACKNOWLEDGED OUR CHK IN; AND REMINDED US THAT WE WERE TALKING TO POTOMAC AND TO GO AHEAD ONCE AGAIN WITH OUR CHK IN. I REMINDED MY FO OF THE NECESSITY OF CHKING IN WITH THE ATIS CODE AND THEN THE AUTHENTICATION CODE. HE WAS FLUSTERED SOMEWHAT BY HIS FIRST XMISSION THAT HE XMITTED ON THE RADIO OUR CALL SIGN; AUTHENTICATION CODE; AND ATIS CODE; IN THAT ORDER; ON HIS 2ND CONTACT WITH POTOMAC APCH (AGAIN; A XMISSION ERROR). POTOMAC APCH THEN GAVE US A HEADING TO FLY FOR VECTORS FOR RECOVERY TO DULLES ARPT. AT THIS POINT I TOOK OVER THE RADIOS; AND AFTER QUERYING THE CTLR; I DETERMINED ONCE AGAIN THAT WE WERE INDEED STILL BEING VECTORED FOR AN APCH TO WASHINGTON NATIONAL ARPT; OUR INTENDED DEST. WE FLEW AN ILS APCH TO RWY 1 AT NATIONAL ARPT; BREAKING OUT OF THE WX AT 700 FT AGL; AND LANDED AND TAXIED TO THE TERMINAL WITHOUT FURTHER INCIDENT.