Police Helicopter (GTA III)

This article is about the uncontrollable police helicopter in Grand Theft Auto III. For the civilian variant of the helicopter in Grand Theft Auto III, see Helicopter (GTA III). For the controllable police helicopter from GTA Vice City onwards, see Police Maverick or Helicopter (disambiguation) for others.

File:Police helicopter (GTA3) (side).jpg

The unnamed LCPD police helicopter in GTA III.

In Grand Theft Auto III, an unnamed, uncontrollable police helicopter is used in police pursuits on the player. The helicopter is the predecessor of the Police Maverick, which has an official name and attributes inherited from GTA III's police helicopter.

Description

Design

The helicopter is defined as a large aircraft, with a body design similar to a Bell 205 or 1990s-2000s NYPD Bell 412 and bearing a blue-and-white LCPD livery similarly adopted for the game's police road vehicles early in game development. The helicopter 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 occupants on board to (hilariously) address 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.

Behavior

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 if they are on foot. At three stars, the helicopter will only open fire at the player if it is shot at in the first place. From four stars onwards, however, the helicopter will indefinitely shoot the player regardless. 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.

Replacement

From Grand Theft Auto: Vice City onwards, helicopters were redone and are controllable by the player. The Police Maverick, in effect a police variant of the Maverick, replaces GTA III's police helicopter. Despite apparent changes in its appearance, control and movement, all helicopters in GTA Vice City inherit many of the GTA III rendition's behavior and weaknesses.

See also

• Helicopter (GTA III), the civilian version of GTA III's police helicopter.
• The Armadillo and Air Ambulance in GTA Vice City Stories, also based on the Bell "Huey" family.
• Police Maverick, the successor to GTA III's police helicopter.