Sea Sparrow

"One day, and it's always sooner than you think, you're going to find yourself in a position where you need to stage an amphibious landing in a fragile miniature helicopter capable of firing off dozens of rounds a second. And you're going to look back at this moment, right now, and be very glad you made the right choice. This aircraft is excluded from Pegasus Lifestyle Management and must be stored in a personal hangar."

- Elitás Travel description.

The Sea Sparrow (also known as the Seasparrow) is a helicopter featured in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories and Grand Theft Auto Online as part of the Southern San Andreas Super Sport Series update, released on April 17th, 2018, during The Vespucci Job Week event.

3D Universe
The Sea Sparrow is an improved version of the Sparrow and is based on the. It features pontoons attached to the landing skids and a single greyish color for the fuselage. The vehicle is equipped with a machine gun mounted below its fuselage.

Grand Theft Auto Online
The Sea Sparrow returns in Grand Theft Auto Online with a similar design to its 3D Universe iteration. The cabin is derived from the (formerly Hughes 300 and Schweizer 300), with a few tweaks to it, while retaining the tail setup from the Bell 47. The engine and the middle section are very similar to that of the.

The helicopter has a small and rounded cabin with a framed tail similar to its previous iteration, but has a three-bladed rotor with silver details on the upper surfaces, while the pontoons are located much farther from the aircraft itself, resulting in a larger profile. The same pontoons are similar to the floating portion of the Dinghy, while the side access steps are similar to the Dodo. The interior of the cabin uses the same "Flyer" dial set, with an arrangement similar to the Buzzard and its attack variant. The Sea Sparrow’s windows won’t shatter after collisions or by being shot at, but bullets will still go through and damage the people inside.

The vehicle features a primary color for the entirety of the aircraft and frames, as well as a secondary color for the pontoons and the vertical fins of the tail.

Unlike its previous iteration iteration, the vehicle does not have any weapon by default, but can be equipped with one via customization, either a Minigun based on a gatling gun or a small missile launcher with four tubes inside.

Vehicle
In all of its appearances, the Sea Sparrow has the same performance as the Sparrow, but has the ability to land on water (just like the Leviathan). This makes the aircraft a good choice to collect Oysters in GTA San Andreas. On the water, it will be steady and can be accessed easily. The Sea Sparrow has good handling and has quick maneuvering, just as its basic counterpart. While on water the Sea Sparrow's rotors can spin to full speed instantly.

Similar to the regular Sparrow, the aircraft is powered by a single piston engine, and shares the engine sound with the Maverick and its variants.

Weaponry
The Sea Sparrow also has a .50 caliber machine gun, which is very similar to the Hunter's. Just like the Hunter, it is capable of automatically locking on and shooting at targets in a ~45-degrees radius. The gun can lock on to pedestrians, as well as vehicles, and due to the gun's high firepower, it can make short work of groups of enemies and vehicles.

3D Universe Overview
Sea Sparrow=

Machine Gun=

Vehicle
The performance of the Sea Sparrow is very similar to the likes of the Buzzard and Buzzard Attack Chopper, which is expected given its compact, lightweight design. The helicopter's handling is very nimble, but remains relative stable, allowing the player to perform quick maneuvers, however it can be noted that the Buzzard seems slightly more stable. When fully upgraded, the Sea Sparrow is barely faster than the Buzzard, reaching about 140 knots at full throttle compared to the 135 knots of the Buzzard. In addition, when flying at full speed, the aircraft will slightly climb, where the Buzzard will descend.

The Sea Sparrow is slightly more versatile in that the helicopter can land on water. However, because of its light weight body and the nature of water in the game, the Sea Sparrow tends to float away from the player after landing, more so than the slightly heavier Dodo sea plane. Care should be taken when landing on water also, as it can easily begin to flip upside down if the player comes in to land too fast or quickly, submerging the rotor blades and destroying the helicopter. The design and positioning of the pontoons also provide a smoother landing on most surfaces and greater stability on uneven terrain, albeit having a tendency to slide on steep inclines due to the lack of grip.

The vehicle is powered by a single turboshaft engine, which produces the same rotor sound as most regular helicopters.

Defense
In terms of durability, the helicopter remains as vulnerable as other civilian helicopters in the game, including the Maverick and Frogger, and cannot withstand a single explosion before being destroyed. However, the Sea Sparrow has upgradable armor, allowing it to take up to eighteen rounds from the Heavy Sniper. Just like other helicopters, after taking enough damage, the engine will begin to smoke. After smoking for two minutes and twenty seconds, the aircraft will shut down. After taking enough damage, the engine will begin to smoke, until it shuts down after smoking for two minutes and twenty seconds.

The aircraft is unable to equip countermeasures but its maneuverability should allow the pilot to avoid most standard homing missiles.

Weaponry
The Sea Sparrow can equip a pilot-operated weapon mounted below the cabin, which only one can be installed at once:


 * Minigun: The first option is a three-barreled .50 caliber Minigun, which offers moderate firepower and high fire rate, ideal for aerial offensive and self-defensive situations. Its performance is the same as the on-board Minigun from the Havok, and is about as strong as half of one of the Buzzard's miniguns.
 * Missiles: The second option is a missile launcher, which provides heavy firepower against NPCs, rival players and vehicles, as well as having no "reload" cooldown time. The pilot can select to use "homing" or "homing off" missiles. When fired in homing mode, they are about as accurate as the Buzzard's missiles, losing tracking on a target quite easily and easily avoided. However, when in "homing off" mode, the missiles will fire at the middle of the crosshair, allowing a skilled pilot to more easily hit targets, when compared to the Buzzard.

GTA Online Overview
Sea Sparrow=

Machine Gun=

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

 * Phnom Penh '86 - Seen being flown by an NPC beside a Sparrow, but not obtainable by the player.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

 * The Colonel's Coke - Vic uses a Sea Sparrow to protect Gonzalez from Diaz' men with the help of his men.
 * Land Sea and Air Ace - A Sea Sparrow is used as the final vehicle used in the sub-mission.
 * Smuggling - A Sea Sparrow may be used as the helicopter which drops the packages for Vic, sometimes it may be replaced by a Maverick or an Armadillo.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Severance (Casino Work) - One of the possible escape vehicles of the croupier will be a Sea Sparrow piloted by an associate, located outside the airport.
 * High Society Leak finale - Appears as an optional means of transportation if the player manages to take down Ben Brooks' helicopter before it reached its destination.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

 * Spawns on the back of the Vercetti Estate after collecting 80 hidden packages.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * At the southeast end of Sherman Dam, opposite the dam's quay.
 * North of Verdant Meadows, beside a shack and a dock
 * On the helipad in Bayside Marina after the completion of Learning to Fly (sometimes a Maverick will spawn instead).
 * At the Western Los Santos Police Department or Las Venturas Police Department occasionally. Entering without a police vehicle will lead to three-star impound. Must be pushed by the player using a car or otherwise before taking off or else the blades bump in the nearby pillar and will not move.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

 * Used in the mission The Colonel's Coke for shooting Gonzalez's rival gunmen, it cannot be obtained by failing or passing the mission.
 * Used/seen during the side-mission, Land Sea and Air Ace, it can then be obtained by either completing the mission or exiting the vehicle to fail the mission.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * Can be purchased from Elitas Travel for $1,815,000, provided the player already owns a Hangar.
 * It is classed as a Small vehicle.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

 * If the player parks the Sea Sparrow inside the Pay 'n' Spray, it will emerge with wheels within the pontoons. The only repair garage big enough to accommodate a Sea Sparrow is the spray'n'go at Sunshine Autos, therefore it is unclear as to whether this glitch also features in Vice City Stories.
 * The Sea Sparrow's machine gun sounds like an M-60 while in GTA Vice City Stories, it sounds like a Micro-SMG or a Minigun.
 * The Sea Sparrow doesn't float on swimming pools, as the game treats the water in swimming pools differently to water in the sea.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories

 * If a player lands the Sea Sparrow on the land and exit the vehicle, the helicopter will not be steady.

Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas

 * It is possible to park and save a Sea Sparrow on top of the garage connected to the Mulholland Safehouse. In order to do this, the player must make sure that the entire aircraft is completely on top of the garage (cannot stick out). This is a good way to store a Sea Sparrow earlier on in the game, provided the player can get a Sea Sparrow.

Grand Theft Auto Online

 * When purchased, the Sea Sparrow will come with a color set reminiscent of the one from 3D Universe, it is not found on the vehicle's default traffic color sets.
 * Regardless if the vehicle is equipped with a weapon or not, the player is unable to switch to Passive Mode.

Navigation
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