Helicopters are a kind of air vehicles featured in GTA V, they can be commonly seen flying around Los Santos, and piloting a helicopter can be very helpful if you need to get to a very remote place, they are much faster than land vehicles. Helicopters also can be used to explore the city or suburban areas and enjoy the views from high above. Moreover, in some missions, a helicopter will be required to do the tasks, and some collectibles can only be found with the help of a helicopter.
Below is a list of the helicopter locations in GTA V and GTA Online (The type of the helicopter at each location is different between the story mode and online).
Unlike in GTA IV, none of these helicopters are permanently parked on the locations. So if you don’t see a helicopter in one of the locations, try another.
1. Central Los Santos Medical Center
The Central Los Santos Medical Center is a hospital in Davis, South Los Santos, the roof of the lower section of the hospital building has two helipads, and Air Ambulances (a type of helicopter in the game) can spawn on them. The roof can be accessed via the stairs or the ladders on the walls.
Sometimes both helipads have a helicopter, sometimes only one, other times no helicopters at all, the chance to see a helicopter spawned there is higher than many other helicopter locations listed on this page. If you don’t see a helicopter there when you get there, try to leave the area and return after a while, then helicopters will likely spawn there, but this method does not always work. If you still don’t see a helicopter after several visits, consider to go to other locations mentioned below.
2. Davis Sheriff’s Station
The Davis Sheriff’s Station is a two-story police station in Davis, it’s located very close to the Central Los Santos Medical Center, and also features a helipad on the roof. To access the helipad, you can climb to the roof through the ventilation system on the back of the building.
Sometimes a Police Maverick or a Buzzard Attack Chopper can be seen stationed on the helipad, but the chance of this is not very high, usually lower than finding a helicopter on the roof of Central Los Santos Medical Center. However, if you see nothing on the helipad, you can take a look at the roof of the nearby Central Los Santos Medical Center, which is clearly visible from the helipad or the street below, sometimes when you don’t see a helicopter on the police station you will see one stationed on the hospital, and vice versa. But still it’s likely that both buildings have no helicopters on the roof, then you have to go to other locations listed below.
As a helicopter on a police station, taking it will attract a one-star wanted level, but can be easily evaded by flying into the sky.
3. The dock of Los Santos Naval Port
There is a helipad on the dock of Los Santos Naval Port in the seaport of Los Santos, and this helipad usually has a chopper parked on it, the chance to see the chopper is higher than most other helicopter locations.
However, the Los Santos Naval Port is a military facility, operated by Merryweather, so it can be a little difficult to obtain the chopper. When the player is very close to the dock, a four-star wanted level will be triggered, and Merryweather guards will start to attack the player, making it hard to get on the chopper.
One of the methods to solve this problem is first take out the guards using a sniper before the player is too close to the dock, then you will have enough time to get on the chopper before LCPD comes. To snipe the Merryweather guards, you will need a boat, because the guards will not spawn if you try to snipe them from a great distance. A good location to do this is at somewhere west of the dock, for the west side of the dock has a ladder, through which the player can climb onto the dock.
4. Vespucci Police Station
The Vespucci Police Station is a three-story building in Vespucci, Los Santos, near the Vespucci Canals. Sometimes a Police Maverick can be seen parked on the rooftop of the building, but this is not quite often, the chance to see a chopper there is lower than that of the locations mentioned above. In addition, access to the rooftop of the building is not as straightforward as those other locations, there are more ladders to climb, and these ladders are a little difficult to be found. If you really want to get to the roof, first make your way to the courtyard at the back of the building, and find a stairway on the right hand side to start getting up to the roof.
5. NOOSE Headquarters
The NOOSE Headquarters is a government facility in the Palomino Highlands within the eastern coast of San Andreas. It’s a little far from the city but the chance of finding a helicopter there is quite high, you can almost definitely see a helicopter parked there, except of some special cases which will be explained below. If you don’t want to go that far, consider other locations listed below.
The helicopter that can be found there is Buzzard Attack Chopper, it’s stationed on the roof of the building in the facility, you can make your way to it by climbing ladders on the wall of the building. The helicopter may not be seen if you access NOOSE Headquarters via another aircraft. In other cases, you can find a helicopter there without problems. And no wanted level will be given after you take it.
6. The Vespucci Helipad
The Vespucci Helipad is a large heliport in Puerto Del Sol, next to the Puerto Del Sol Marina.
Occasionally a NPC-controlled helicopter can be seen landing to one of the helipads, sometimes it’s simply parked there, and still, the helicopter cannot always be found there. So again, if you don’t see it, try to leave the area and get back there after a while.
And Franklin or Michael can purchase a helipad in Vespucci Helipad to store the helicopters landed on it or purchased online.
7. Parachute Jumps Locations
If you have completed Dom Beasley’s mission Risk Assessment, Parachute Jumps will be available in many different locations around the State of San Andreas. Some of these Parachute jumps are Helicopter Jumps like the jump in Risk Assessment, and they can be a source for helicopters, as the player can hijack the helicopters used in these jumps. When the player character comes close to the helicopter, holding the enter button will make the character hijack it.
Not every parachuting location has a helicopter, many are Base Jumps in which the character will jump off a building or a cliff.
In Los Santos, there are 3 parachuting locations that have helicopters, one is in La Puerta, it can be found in the parking area in Puerto Del Sol Marina, next to Puerto Del Sol Yacht Club.
The other two helicopters used for parachuting are located very close to each other, one is waiting in the infield of the Vinewood Racetrack, the other one is waiting beside the southern edge of the racetrack, on Mirror Park Boulevard.
If you want to obtain a chopper to get to the rooftop of Maze Bank Tower to start Dom Beasley’s mission Targeted Risk, and you happen to just completed the previous mission Liquidity Risk, which ends at a place on the southwestern shore of the Alamo Sea, then the most convenient location to get a chopper is a parachuting location in Raton Canyon, which is not far from there, so after Dom leaves with a Seashark, Franklin can get a vehicle nearby to make his way to Raton Canyon and hijack that chopper, then fly all the way to the top of Maze Bank Tower.
8. Los Santos International Airport
Los Santos International Airport is not only a source for various kinds of airplanes, it also can be a source of helicopters, as sometimes a chopper can be seen parked or landing on a helipad in the airport.
The helipad is located near the northeast gate of the airport, to find it you can first enter the airport through that gate (the gate is adjacent to the southeast corner of the overlapped U-shaped roads), then move forward for about 200 feet from the gate, the helipad will be seen on your right hand side.
Be aware that entering the airport will trigger a three-star wanted level, this can be avoided if the player purchased a hanger inside the airport, so it’s recommended to buy the hanger first, then it will be much more safe to obtain the chopper.