Crate Drops

Crate Drops are crates dropped around in San Andreas in Grand Theft Auto Online.

Overview
When a crate is going to drop, in the top right hand corner of the screen, it says "A plane is on its way to drop a crate that contains useful supplies". Be the first to collect it. Many crates contain simple but useful supplies such as ammunition and food such as P’s & Q’s. The area the crate will be dropped in is marked by a large green circle on the map. When the crate is actually dropped in the bottom left hand corner of the screen it will say "A crate has been dropped". When this happens the green circle on the map will change to a picture of a crate with a question mark in its center. If a crate is not collected for a while, then it will disappear, saying that "Arms smugglers have picked up the crate".

Special Crates
Rarely, instead of a regular crate, the player will be notified that a special crate is going to be dropped. The player will be notified 10, 5, and 3 hours ahead of the crate drop. Note that these times are in game time, where one hour is two minutes in real life. Unlike the normal crates, whose text is displayed in white letters, the special crates have text in gold letters. These special crates can contain super heavy Armor, Thousands of RP, a Minigun, Carbine Rifle, or a full supply of food.

With the Independence Day Special update, the special crates now also contain exclusive items, that can only be obtained through them. There are 7 different items that can be obtained through the special crates:


 * Pisswasser Beer Hat.
 * Benedict Beer Hat.
 * Patriot Beer Hat.
 * Supa Wet Beer Hat.
 * J Lager Beer Hat. (not available yet)
 * Blarneys Beer Hat. (not available yet)
 * "Happiness is... land." T-Shirt from GTA IV.

Note: The beer hats will immediately appear in your inventory, while the T-Shirt can be purchased for free at any clothing store.

Spawn Locations
There are 20 fixed locations for crate drops to spawn.

Crate drops

Note: coordinates extracted from game files.

6 types of NPCs spawn inside the green circle.


 * Triads NPC
 * Mexican NPC
 * Lost MC NPC
 * Families NPC
 * Professionals NPC
 * Hillbillies NPC

They spawn with one weapon from a list of specific weapons:
 * Minigun
 * Combat MG
 * MG
 * Heavy Sniper
 * Sniper Rifle
 * Advanced Rifle
 * Carbine Rifle
 * Assault Rifle
 * SMG
 * Micro-SMG
 * Assault Shotgun
 * Pump Shotgun
 * Sawnoff Shotgun
 * AP Pistol
 * Combat Pistol
 * Pistol

Most of the NPCs will spawn with a pistol, with the occasional one spawning with another weapon shown above.

Trivia

 * Most crates will be dropped in Blaine County.
 * Sometimes there will be enemies defending the crates, usually The Professionals.
 * Wherever a crate is dropped, there will be a red or orange signal flare nearby. The flare is the same one used for Merryweather air strikes.
 * There does not seem to be a player requirement.
 * There is a 10% chance that a special crate will be dropped

Bugs

 * If a player stands in the green circle, the crate will never drop.