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For other uses, see Helicopter (disambiguation).
This article needs to be cleaned up to meet the standards of the GTA Wiki.

The police/"chopper" variant of the Helicopter[1] (and later the Police Maverick) is a police helicopter in the Grand Theft Auto series.

The helicopter first appeared as a police variant of the standard Helicopter in Grand Theft Auto III, and then later appears as an uncontrollable variant of the existing Police Maverick in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. The helicopter is internally named "chopper" but assumes the name "Helicopter" in-game across all of its appearances, with the exception of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, where it is named "VCPD Maverick" like its standard variant.

Design[]

Grand Theft Auto III[]

The helicopter is designed as a large vehicle bearing similarities to the Bell 205. The original game's rendition bears a blue-and-white LCPD livery similarly adopted for the game's police road vehicles early in game development, and comes equipped with a gunner or turret, which fires bullets from its underside, a search light that is commonly used at night, and a loudspeaker used by two occupants on board to (hilariously) address the player. One of the pilots on board will be calm towards the player, whilst the other tries to argue over the loudspeaker and is negative towards the player. According to an in-game news report, the helicopters were only recently introduced in Liberty City (circa 2001) to aid the police force in fighting crime, even though police helicopters can still be seen in Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories which is set in 1998, 3 years before GTA III, probably, because the developers ignored the in-game news report.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - Vice City Stories[]

In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories and Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories, the helicopter appears as a variant of the existing Police Maverick, itself based on a standard Maverick. In reality, the NPC Police Maverick is the reused police Helicopter from Grand Theft Auto III, using the regular model of the GTA Vice City Police Maverick model [2][3][4], with slight differences: The back doors on airborne Police Mavericks slide back, unlike the usable ones, where the back doors of Police Mavericks available to the player swing open instead. The back doors are open for the animation of the SWAT team rappelling down from the police helicopter. In GTA Vice City Stories, the slide-door variant retains the GTA Vice City green and white livery, contrary to the olive/gold and white livery of the drivable version. The slide-door variant is not normally available to the player. In GTA Liberty City Stories, the windows of the helicopter are blackened, obscuring the interior.

If the player manages to obtain it (not possible by normal means) in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, the helicopter is useless and does not accelerate. It also misses some features such as leaning (however, it can lean left/right), going down and turning. When the helicopter is in mid-air, it will fall through the ground immediately due to its "bullet/rocket collision only". This is due to the fact that there is no code in the game's handling files for the helicopter's flight characteristics. The game instead uses a special physics engine to control the AI-controlled police helicopter that follows the player at a high wanted level.

In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, however, the NPC Police Maverick performs exactly like a regular Police Maverick, due to the fact that there is no scripted path file for it like in GTA Vice City. However, it retains its abilities, and is thus extremely responsive and fast - it can accelerate to full speed and also quickly stop. It can also accelerate upwards very fast, past the height limit of the game without any limitations, also retaining its black windows, obscuring its interior.

Performance[]

PoliceHelicopter-GTAIII-Screenshot

Two police helicopters circling above Claude.

The police helicopter appears only after the player attains a three-star wanted level, initially hovering just over the player. Due to its airborne capabilities, the police helicopter is able to reach places where conventional police forces can't (i.e. rooftops and off-road locales). However, the helicopter will retreat as soon as the player enters a enclosed area which the helicopter cannot reach (such as a building interior or tunnel). Despite its availability in the game, the helicopter cannot be commandeered by the player. The helicopter is designed to shoot the player from three stars onwards, but will only open fire once the helicopter's spotlight has been shined on the player for a few seconds, regardless of whether the player is on foot or in a vehicle; by constantly moving and changing directions, the helicopter will be unable to target the player using the spotlight, preventing the player from being shot. By five stars, a second police helicopter will join in, doubling the police's firepower from the air. As is any airborne vehicle, the helicopter can be shot down using firearms. The rocket launcher, in particular, is effective in taking down any police helicopter with one hit, sending the helicopter spinning out of control before exploding and disintegrating on impact at a building or on the ground. The M-16 is also effective in disabling a helicopter, but requires a substantial number of direct shots before the helicopter begins to lose control. In its downward spiral, however, the helicopter may still shoot the player until it crashes. Also the helicopter has no set height limit and can match the player's altitude.

The Police Maverick flown by the police has no height limit and can go through buildings, without a chance of crashing either. In Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, the uncontrollable Police Maverick piloted by cops still has the handling and other characteristics from the uncontrollable helicopter in GTA III, although it uses the polygon model from the Police Maverick available to the player. Pressing the vehicle enter button has no effect for police-flown Police Mavericks. In GTA III and GTA Liberty City Stories, to ensure the player is not going to obtain one, police-flown helicopters blow up upon contact with the player. The helicopter has an "invisible" 5.56mm machine gun on the fuselage (sounding like an M-60, but with much less power), as well as a searchlight, and a loudspeaker (used by the Police to address the player from the skies), which is only absent in the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories rendition. Unlike its GTA III counterpart, the Police Maverick can airdrop SWAT units on ropes at four star wanted levels.

In GTA Vice City and GTA Liberty City Stories, the inside cabin is empty and there is no visible NPC flying the Police Maverick when it is flown by police.

Gallery[]

Grand Theft Auto III[]

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City - Vice City Stories[]

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories[]

Oversights[]

  • If the player shoots down a Police Maverick and lowers their wanted level below three-star through cheat codes, the Police Maverick will fly away as if nothing happened. Police Mavericks that fly away are also invulnerable to any form of damage.

Grand Theft Auto: Vice City[]

  • If the player shoots down a pursuing Police Maverick and is busted or wasted near the same moment the Maverick explodes, they will sometimes automatically regain a 4 star wanted level if they respawn at a Police Station or Hospital in the vicinity of the wrecked Maverick.

Specifications[]

Model[]

Model name Texture name Handling name Text label name In-game name Swankness Flags
GTA III chopper chopper HELI HELI Helicopter N/A
GTA Vice City chopper chopper HELI HELI Helicopter N/A
GTA Liberty City Stories chopper chopper HELI HELI Helicopter N/A
GTA Vice City Stories chopper chopper CHOPPER CHOPPER VCPD Maverick N/A

Population[]

Groups Scenario sets Frequency (%) Driver model License plates
GTA Vice City None N/A None N/A N/A
GTA Liberty City Stories None N/A None N/A N/A
GTA Vice City Stories None N/A None N/A N/A

Handling[]

Max velocity (kmh / mph) Gears Engine type Drivetrain Mass (kg / lbs)
GTA III ? ? ? ? ?
GTA Vice City ? ? ? ? ?
GTA Liberty City Stories ? ? ? ? ?
GTA Vice City Stories ? ? ? ? ?

Audio[]

Horns Engine Police scanner
Manufacturer Model Category Color
GTA III N/A N/A N/A
GTA Vice City N/A N/A N/A
GTA Liberty City Stories N/A N/A N/A N/A
GTA Vice City Stories N/A N/A N/A N/A

Traffic Default Colors[]

GTA IIIPrimarySecondary
0
Black
0
Black
GTA Vice CityPrimarySecondary
46
Green 7
1
White
GTA Vice City StoriesPrimarySecondary
46
1

Trivia[]

  • In the beta version of GTA III the helicopter originally had the same body color as the regular helicopter.
  • In the promotional screenshots of The Definitive Edition of Grand Theft Auto III, the Police Helicopter is black.
  • The helicopter bears an NYPD-like light blue and white police livery, a color scheme that was cut for both the game's police car and Enforcer following the September 11, 2001, attacks.
  • The helicopter can be set on fire with the Flamethrower and Molotov Cocktails but it will receive no damage from the fire.
  • Like the civilian variant of the police helicopter, spawning the helicopter causes the game to crash.
  • In GTA III, GTA Vice City, and GTA Liberty City Stories, there is a bug with the police dialogue where the police helicopter will swoop over and play dialogue. However, it will stay in one place and not follow the helicopter, making it sound like it is coming from nowhere.
  • Like in GTA Vice City, shooting down the helicopter may result in it spinning in circles many times a second.
  • Walking through the helicopter while close down the ground will immediately explode the aircraft. Interestingly, if the player presses the "Enter" key when Claude is near the helicopter, he will run towards it. There have been reports of players reaching the helicopter in this manner, only to make it explode. This also happens in GTA Liberty City Stories since the developers were trying to create a same manner as in GTA III (uncontrollable helicopters).
  • In one of the early GTA Vice City screenshots a red and white helicopter is present, it's unknown if it was going to be the helicopter that the police used before the Police Maverick was made.
  • Strangely enough, when replacing the helicopter with the one found in GTA Liberty City Stories, the colors will be the same, with chromed windows and continuing being unenterable.
  • The slide-door, AI-controlled Police Maverick in GTA Vice City and GTA Liberty City Stories reuses the handling line and characteristics from the police Helicopter (HELI) in GTA III. Unlike the police Helicopter in GTA III, the slide-door variant in these games, is obtainable, but only via cheat devices.
  • The helicopter doesn't have an interior, nor a pilot.
  • When firing the helicopter's firing sound cannot be heard, but only the ricochet when the bullet hits the ground.
  • If the helicopter is shot down and is spinning, firing rockets directly at the fuselage can prolong its airtime when spinning. Using this method, it can be propelled away from the player and disappear without exploding.
  • In GTA Vice City and GTA Liberty City Stories, while it is possible to spawn the slide-door Police Maverick that pursues the player, it will be invisible, and trying to enter it will crash the game, since the game will be looking for the missing door that does not exist on the helicopter. Even if it is controlled, it cannot be flown as pressing the "forward" key does nothing. It otherwise behaves like a normal helicopter, and it can be destroyed, either with the use of weapons or a cheat code. This is because, they are not supposed to be obtained.
  • In GTA Liberty City Stories, the Police Maverick uses the LOD of the controllable GTA Vice City Police Maverick, with decals and colours changed.
  • In GTA Vice City, the machine gun actually fires from the back rather than under the belly.
  • In GTA Vice City, the anti-collision light on the back of airborne Police Mavericks is dislocated, and remain in the same place as it is in GTA III.
  • The mounted gun oddly bypasses any coding that would make the object/character invincible. For instance, it will damage the player even if the "Invincibility" cheat is activated. It also can damage a Rhino, despite it being very resistant to bullet-based weapons.
  • In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, one of the pilots is called "Jimmy". (Co-Pilot: Jimmy, can you keep this 'copter steady?").
  • In GTA Vice City, the Police Maverick that chases the player is invulnerable to any forms of weapons but very vulnerable to both the Rocket Launcher and Sniper Rifle. Unlike other vehicles that explode into a black object, the Police Maverick explodes into shard-like pieces. The destruction of the Police Maverick awards the player $250 and half wanted star.

See Also[]

References[]

  1. In-game name
    "...\TEXT\american.gxt\HELI" - Helicopter (Text string for both the standard Helicopter and police Helicopter in GTA III. The same string can be found in GTA Vice City and GTA Liberty City Stories.
  2. As suggested by the .GXT files:

    AMERICAN.GXT text strings for the Helicopter, which is shared with police Helicopter in GTA III, and used for the NPC Police Maverick in the next 3D Universe games.
  3. Grand Theft Auto III:
    \Grand Theft Auto III\text\american.gxt\HELI - Helicopter

    Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
    NPC Police Maverick:
    \Grand Theft Auto Vice City\text\american.gxt\HELI - Helicopter
    Regular Police Maverick:
    \Grand Theft Auto Vice City\text\american.gxt\POLMAV - Police Maverick
  4. Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (PSP version)
    Used in all Helicopters in the game; Not displayed in the HUD:
    \PSP_GAME\USRDIR\TEXT\ENGLISH.GXT\HELI - Helicopter

    Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories (PSP version)
    NPC VCPD Maverick:
    \PSP_GAME\USRDIR\TEXT\ENGLISH.GXT\CHOPPER - VCPD Maverick
    Regular VCPD Maverick:
    \PSP_GAME\USRDIR\TEXT\ENGLISH.GXT\POLMAV - VCPD Maverick

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Category:Vehicles in GTA Liberty City Stories | Vehicles in GTA Liberty City Stories | Vehicles by type | Special Vehicles | Beta Vehicles
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