News Chopper

The News Chopper, also known as the News Maverick and News Helicopter, is a helicopter appearing in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The News Chopper is a 2 door "shortened" Maverick helicopter with SAN News markings, as well as featuring a white-light blue scheme. The helicopter is essentially the same as the VCN Maverick introduced in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, evidenced by the fact that its internal name is "vcnmav", suggesting the VCN Maverick is reused for the News Chopper. The registration number on the tail of the helicopter is also identical to the one seen on the VCN Maverick.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The vehicle is harder to fly than the Maverick due to its freer controls and can flip over whilst in the air. However, it makes up for being faster and less prone to getting stuck in an obstacle, making it a good choice to travel through urban areas.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
The News Chopper is among the few vehicles that has no spawn point, therefore the player must try a method to obtain it.


 * It only appears as a second chopper when the player has a 4-star wanted level. Like any other aircraft that appear in the sky, they spawn without a pedestrian piloting them.
 * There is an aerial race ("Whirly Bird Waypoint") that requires the player to fly a News Chopper through the checkpoints. Instead of completing the race, the player can fly to Verdant Meadows hangar, park it inside, then wait for the time to run out to fail the race.

Methods

 * You must manage to acquire a Rhino Tank and a Minigun. Once you have both, get a wanted level of four stars or more and immediately head for Verdant Meadows. Use the Rhino to kill nearby pursuing officers, then briefly leave the tank and use the minigun to shoot the News Chopper down. Use the Rhino to push the wreck inside your hangar, then save the game to lose your wanted level. Upon opening the hangar, an intact News Chopper will spawn in the hangar.
 * Another method consists of using the Jetpack to reach the top the construction sites cranes (found in Market, Los Santos ; Doherty, San Fierro ; The Clown's Pocket, Las Venturas). Move around onto the crane and both the Police Maverick and the News Chopper should fly very close to you. When it flies by you, quickly hijack it, fly away, park into the Verdant Meadows Hangar and save to lose your wanted level. Be careful of any chasing Hydra that might shoot you down before reaching the hangar.
 * Another method consists of climbing to the top of the Camel's Toe casino after reaching a 4 star wanted level. Move around on the slope and the News Chopper should fly very close to you. When it flies by you, quickly hijack it, fly away, park into the Verdant Meadows Hangar and save to lose your wanted level.
 * Another method is to go to the tallest building in Los Santos after reaching 4 stars. Try to make the News Chopper fly lower. Whenever it's nearly on your level, just get inside the chopper, park it in the Verdant Meadows Hangar and save to lose your wanted level. Just be careful of any chasing Hydra.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * Before the game's release, the News Chopper was a VCN Maverick. This is proven by examining the game's DFF and TXD files for it, both of which are named vcnmav.
 * Note that whenever a News Chopper approaches the player once you acquire four or more stars, the chopper will hover directly above Carl's head. If Carl moves, the chopper will follow him until it is either shot down or Carl looses his wanted levels.
 * It can be noted that during police pursuits, it flies higher than Police Mavericks, making it harder to shoot down.
 * It is, however, advised to keep it intact as only one Police Maverick will come after the player, making pursuits easier then.
 * NewsChopper-GTASA-MultipleSpawnArea.pngly when a News Chopper is shot down, no more will turn up and are replaced with another Police Maverick. However on some rare occasions, up to six or more News Choppers can spawn after the previous ones have been shot down. It is known to most likely happen with a wanted level of four stars or higher when standing on a cliff directly south of Shady Creeks. Or if you shoot down the News Chopper to water (without exploding it), another News Chopper will replace it.

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