Caida Libre

     Spoiler Warning: Plot details, ending details, or both are in the text which follows.

Caida Libre is a mission in Grand Theft Auto V, given by Martin Madrazo to protagonists Michael De Santa and Trevor Philips.

Plot

Michael and Trevor are summoned to Madrazo's house in La Fuente Blanca, where Madrazo has a job for them. Madrazo's cousin Javier is going to testify against him; Madrazo wants Javier killed and sensitive documents retrieved. 

The player takes control of Michael. Michael drives to the Galileo Observatory where Madrazo has left a black Burrito with a heavy rifle mounted in the rear. Michael must use the rifle to shoot down the Air Emu Shamal carrying Javier to Los Santos International Airport. The high-powered rifle uses a unique display that places a red square before the jet, showing the location where Michael must shoot in order to compensate for the distance if he is to hit the engine. The Shamal first appears in the upper left-hand quadrant of the rifle's display (when using the gun, the radar is hidden so it is very difficult to see the plane at first), then crosses left to right towards the airport. Michael must shoot the jet three times to take it out of the sky.

Once the aircraft has been damaged, the player is switched to Trevor. Riding a Sanchez, Trevor chases the fast descending jet from the Galileo Observatory through Great Chaparral, Harmony and Sandy Shores. While the player has some freedom over what path to use, the pursuit does feature at least one jump that Trevor must successfully make in order to keep up with the plane. Once the aircraft crashes, Trevor must kill Javier and retrieve the sensitive documents contained onboard the Shamal.

After Trevor has obtained the documents, the player is switched once again to Michael. Michael takes the van from the area surrounding Galileo Observatory, then destroys the vehicle. Afterwards, Michael is about to make his way to La Fuente Blanca in order to meet up with Trevor, and give the documents to Madrazo. However, Michael receives a phone call from Trevor revealing that he has other ideas. Trevor asks Michael to meet him instead at Stoner Cement Works, north of La Fuente Blanca along Senora Road. Trevor arrives soon after Michael. Trevor states that he went to discuss payment with Madrazo, which led to an argument. Trevor then opens the trunk of his vehicle to reveal he has kidnapped Madrazo's wife Patricia. With Patricia tied up, Michael and Trevor leave the cement works and go into hiding at Sandy Shores.

The player is automatically switched to Franklin after the mission is completed.

Mission Objectives

• Go to the observatory. - (Michael)
• Get in the van. - (Michael)
• Shoot the plane's engine. - (Michael)
• Follow the plane and get the package. - (Trevor)
• Silence Javier. - (Trevor)
• Go inside the plane. - (Trevor)
• Leave the area. - (Michael)
• Destroy the van. - (Michael)
• Go to Martin's house. - (Michael)
• Meet Trevor at the cement works. - (Michael)

Gold Medal Objectives

• Floor It - Reach top speed on the Sanchez.
• Glued to the Seat - Don't fall off the Sanchez during the chase.
  • Self-explanatory. Note that even exiting the Sanchez on purpose will fail this objective.
• One Two Three - Shoot down the plane with 3 shots only.
  • Using Michael's special ability for the first shot can help pass this achievement (for the two later shots it is unavailable).
• Mission Time - Complete the mission in 9:45
  • Skip all cutscenes. The Fusilade^[1][2] in the driveway can be used to help achieve this, as it is faster than Michael's Premier.

Aftermath

Weazel News (Radio)

"Mob witness dead in plane crash. A private plane crashed earlier. Among the dead was Javier Madrazo, a key witness in a case against his cousin, alleged mobster Martin Madrazo. Javier Madrazo was at the point of testifying against his cousin. Without his testimony, the case will likely collapse."

Daily Rag Newspaper

"A private jet bound for Liberty City has crashed in the Senora Desert killing everybody on board, in what police are calling extremely suspicious circumstances. The plane was carrying Javier Madrazo, a key witness in a case against a Los Santos based drug cartel, whose cousin Martin Madrazo, is alleged to be an organized crime kingpin."

Bleeter Posts

• @jillsthenewblack - "Plane crash in Senora Desert either engine malfunction or really lame suicide bomber. TOO SOON???? ;)"
• @manolodeoro2 - "Anyone know the deal with Javier? The hijo de puta won't answer my calls or emails."

Consequences

• Michael and Trevor are both exiled from Los Santos, and Michael's mansion and Floyd's Apartment will both be locked. Michael's garage in Vinewood and Trevor's garage in Pillbox Hill can still be accessed, but at the risk of being attacked by Martin Madrazo's henchmen.
  • The exile also affects any side-missions located in Los Santos. Because of this, any that aren't yet completed will have to be postponed until later in the game.
• Michael must use Trevor's Trailer as a safehouse. This creates a rare situation in the game where both playable main characters will be in the same vicinity while not on a mission, without the player having to orchestrate the circumstances. Their interactions will be unfriendly and the AI-controlled character will soon leave the vicinity. If the AI-controlled character gets into a vehicle's driver seat, the player-controlled character can enter that vehicle's passenger seat before the AI drives off, then the player can instantly switch to the driver and go for a drive with both characters and watch the argument between them. If the vehicle stops at any point, the character in the passenger seat will exit and walk off.
  • Due to Trevor and Michael spawning so close to each other, the game's mechanism in which the AI-controlled character automatically asks the player-controlled character if they want to hang out is temporarily disabled. This goes for Franklin as well; if Franklin goes out to Sandy Shores and encounters Trevor or Michael, they'll exchange pleasantries, but the AI-controlled character will indicate they're busy and leave the area. Similarly, the three protagonists can no longer phone each other and ask to hang out.
  • This also creates a unique situation in which Trevor or Michael are able to obtain each other's default vehicles. For this to happen, leave the character's default vehicle parked in front of the trailer and leave the vicinity and steal another vehicle. Return to the trailer where the default vehicle should still spawn. Park and exit the new vehicle and then switch to the other character. If the second character is in or near the trailer, he will interact with the other character as depicted above, only the other character will drive away in the vehicle he stole, rather than his default, but the default vehicle will still be parked and available for the other player to take it.
    • During the exile, both Michael and Trevor can access whatever vehicles are stored in the trailer's garage.
• If either Michael or Trevor attempt to enter the city, they will receive a warning call from Martin, before endless waves of Madrazo Cartel gang members riding in first-generation Ballers and Cavalcades spawn, and attempt to hunt them down until the protagonist retreats back to Blaine County. If either Michael or Trevor is killed in Los Santos, they will respawn at the hospital in Sandy Shores. If Michael or Trevor gets arrested by the LSPD, they will spawn at a police station in Los Santos. Martin's Henchmen will attack them when the player spawns. Michael and Trevor can still enter the city safely by way of submersible (such as during the nuclear waste collection side-mission), but using a boat (as in the mission to collect submarine pieces) is risky as they may be shot at if they go too close to the shore.
• Michael and Trevor however can enter Los Santos freely by air without being attacked. This is because Martin Madrazo's henchmen can only do ground attacks. They will only spawn if the player lands the aircraft, if they bail out of an air vehicle or if they parachute into the city.
  • The game will display a warning message if Trevor or Michael get too close to the city in advance of Martin's phone call or his men spawning, allowing a safe retreat. This also applies on the water.
  • If the player gains a wanted level of three stars or more, Madrazo's men will retreat and the player will have to fight the LSPD instead. Once the wanted level has been lost, Madrazo's men will return.
  • After the player leaves Los Santos, Martin will phone them again, saying that they expected the respective protagonist to have been killed by the Cartel.
    • The closest major location that Michael or Trevor can access without triggering the warning is the Galileo Observatory, as one of Trevor's random locations (when being switched to) is near here.
• The next mission, "Minor Turbulence", does not trigger immediately afterwards. Franklin may need to wander around Los Santos for a bit before it appears. The mission "Deep Inside", however, is immediately available. Until "Minor Turbulence" is completed, however, the ability to switch characters is disabled.
• Michael's wardrobe will be limited to a dirty gray suit, a white sleeveless shirt and the DLC extra clothes. However, the player can still buy clothes for Michael and those will appear in the wardrobe at Trevor's trailer.
• Though not a major problem, the player will be unable to quicksave the game via the phone as Michael or Trevor when they enter Los Santos.

Deaths

• Javier Madrazo - Killed by Trevor on orders from Martin Madrazo.
• The pilot of the Shamal - Killed in the crash caused by Michael. 

Gallery

Michael introducing Martin Madrazo to Trevor.

Martin Madrazo showing a photo of Javier Madrazo to Michael and Trevor.

Burrito with weapons.

Michael aiming at the plane.

Michael gets a shot at the plane.

The plane is beginning to fall.

Trevor chasing the plane.

The plane flies through Sandy Shores with Trevor in hot pursuit.

The crash.

Trevor coming out of the plane with the file.

Burrito destroyed.

Michael waiting for Trevor.

Trevor kidnapped Patricia Madrazo.

The beta screenshot confirming Franklin's role in the beta for this mission.

Add a photo to this gallery

Soundtrack

Main article: Caida Libre/Soundtrack

Video Walkthroughs

GTA 5 - Mission 45 - Caida Libre 100% Gold Medal Walkthrough

Caida Libre Mission Walkthrough

GTA 5 - Mission 45 - Caida Libre First Person Gold Medal Guide - PS4

First Person Walkthrough

GTA 5 PC - Mission 45 - Caida Libre Gold Medal Guide - 1080p 60fps

PC 60FPS Walkthrough

Trivia

• "Caida Libre" is Spanish for "free fall". 
• While Trevor is chasing the descending plane, if the player passes Trevor's Trailer, Trevor will say a random phrase towards Ron (e.g. "RON! You better be working" or "How's business, Ronald?")
• In the beta version, Franklin was supposed to fill Trevor's role, confirmed by a screenshot. When "Caida Libre" is unlocked, Franklin still receives a text from Michael instructing him to go to Madrazo's farm. However, no green mission icon appears and if Franklin goes there, he is turned away (this could be an error that Rockstar Games forgot to remove). Michael's text actually indicates that Trevor is also being brought in for the job, suggesting all three characters might have been involved at some point.
• Originally, this mission was going to be called Vinewood Babylon.
• One randomly generated comment Michael makes when he mans the gun is that the plane is coming from the southwest of Downtown. This is actually an error as the plane first appears coming from either the south or southeast.
• If the player (as Michael) jumps onto the truck bed before Trevor drives off, he will start insulting Michael with his usual lines for when he insults pedestrians ("You hideous mistake", etc.) until Michael gets off. The same applies if the player follows Trevor and performs a near miss as Michael.
• Sometimes if replaying as Trevor, there's a chance that the Bodhi he uses will pass through another Bodhi.
• The Remote Sniper that Michael uses in the van to take the plane down is similar to the weapon that Bruce Willis uses in the film The Jackal.^[1] The weapon my also be a reference to the 2003 film, S.W.A.T., where an LAPD A109 is shot down by the antagonist, using a setup similar to the van.
• For some reason, Michael can only use his special ability before the first successful shot. After this, it will be unavailable, even if it was fully-charged previously.
• When Trevor says Michael was scouting the house for a heist, it is a reference to a cut beta heist known as the The Sharmoota Job, where Michael and Trevor would dress as either clowns or mimes and steal Aztec artifacts from Madrazo's house and kidnap Patricia.
• While passing through Sandy Shores, people are often seen recording the falling plane with their phones, making remarks and screaming.
• Right after the auto switch to Franklin, it is still possible to hang out with Michael immediately (this won't be possible anymore when the mission icon for Minor Turbulence appears in the radar some time after the mission). Oddly, Michael will be waiting in some spot within Los Santos area, but the hot spots to hang out will be in Blaine County, so the only venues available are Darts in the Yellow Jack Inn, and drinks at The Mojito Inn and the Hen House. However, after dropping him off, he won't be able to be switched to him, even though he's nearby.
  • It is also possible to roam freely in Los Santos when hanging out with Michael, without any henchmen coming to kill him.
• Sometimes, after restarting from when Michael attempts to shoot down the plane, the gun in the van's scope won't zoom. Killing Michael and restarting the mission will fix this (confirmed on the enhanced edition).
• When Trevor takes out his phone at the end of the mission, the interface of the phone will be red, regardless of what color the player had set it as, if they did customize it.
• Patricia's kidnapping was originally supposed to take place after this mission in the cut heist The Sharmoota Job before it was moved to the end of this mission; with the kidnapping occuring off-screen.
• Strangely, the plane flies over the second runway at Sandy Shores Airfield, completely ignoring it, while the pilot keeps complaining that they won't make it to a runway and have to crash.
  • Also, most modern dual-engine airplanes are projected so they can fly with only one operative engine, so shooting one of the plane's engines wouldn't cause it to fall from the sky.
• The rifle Michael uses is located right next to Galileo Observatory, yet when the player actually takes control of the weapon, the view through the electronic scope makes it appear to be atop Weazel Plaza in Rockford Hills, a considerable distance away. Most obviously, the Del Perro Freeway is visible in the bottom right of the screen after activating the rifle.
• If the player follows Trevor after they leave Madrazo's house, he will be driving like any other normal NPC and will not pick up the Sanchez until the player stops following him.
• Because of the removal of the Air Emu livery after the After Hours update, the script that requests the plane to use said livery no longer works and instead, the plane simply spawns with the MyFly livery. This also causes an inconcistency with the prop that appears when the plane crashes, as it retains the former Air Emu livery. Editing the Shamal's texture database to restore the Air Emu livery, or restoring an older version of the textures results in the aircraft appearing as it was meant to appear originally.

References

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