Higgins Helitours

File:Higgins Helitours (GTA4) (at work).jpg

A Helitours Maverick taking off at the Higgins Helitours helipad.

Higgins Helitours is a helitour company in Grand Theft Auto IV.

Description

Higgins Helitours gives helitours using the company's own Mavericks at a price of $150 for each ride. A Higgins advertisement on TV boasts the advantages of helitours over bus tours, claiming a fun and safe adventure in the sky (while footage shows various helicopters crashing at land and sea. Fortunately, there is no such danger when the player takes a tour).

The company bases its operations at a landing platform situated off the shores of Castle Gardens and Fishmarket South, Algonquin. The layout of the landing platform as well as its location hint that the helipad may be based on the Downtown Manhattan Heliport in New York City, although the terminal building is completely different.

Pedestrians can be seen waiting in line to enter the helicopters. When a helicopter is free, at most three will approach and enter the helicopter. The pilot will take off, giving tours to them.

The name Higgins is apparently a reference to a character in the TV show Magnum P.I., and the tour company was originally to be named "Magnum Helitours".

Types of tours

• Around Broker and Dukes
• West Algonquin
• North Algonquin
• The major bridges

Flying all tours at least once will earn the player the Sightseer achievement. The different tours are obtainable by boarding each of the helicopters in turn. Not all helicopters will be there at the same time; usually two or three at a time are available.

Pilots

• Rob
• Jase
• Vicki

Trivia

• During multiplayer in GTA IV and The Lost and Damned, Annihilators spawn here instead of the Helitours Mavericks. In The Ballad of Gay Tony, Buzzards spawn here.
• During the tour that leads along the major bridges, the pilot makes a mistake when he tells about the Lighthouse of Charge Island. He means the Lighthouse of Colony Island.
• Luis Fernando Lopez was trained at Higgins Helitours.
• It is extremely easy to steal a helicopter from the Helitours, and 98% of the time you will never be chased by the cops.