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The Buckingham Swift is a luxury helicopter featured in The Ballad of Gay Tony and, as part of the San Andreas Flight School Update, Grand Theft Auto V and Grand Theft Auto Online.
Design
The Ballad of Gay Tony
The helicopter is heavily based on the AgustaWestland AW109S Grand, judging by the landing gear arrangements, the slide doors, the four-blade rotor and the tail boom with a strike guard on the back, with some details of the Bell 222, such as the winglets on the tail, vents near the rotor and the shapes on the upper side. The helicopter also takes side engine intake designs from the Bell 430.
In-game, it is considered as a private shuttle helicopter, which is painted in a two-tone paintjob (white and black/dark blue), with the "Santo Capro" livery on it. The vehicle always comes with open side doors, while a closed side doors spawns in a rare occurrence (explained below). It belongs to Yusuf Amir.
Grand Theft Auto V
The Grand Theft Auto V rendition retains its body style as in TBoGT, but it is re-elaborated in terms of details. It now features a retractable landing gear system just like its real-life counterpart, along with working lamps added to the sides. The windscreen is now of a lighter tint to make it more luxurious and side sliding doors can be opened and closed with a unique animation, unlike TBoGT. The retractable landing gear is not very common on helicopters in GTA V adding to the luxurious presence. The helicopter also makes use of marvelous aerodynamics, living up to its name.
Current Design Gallery
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Version History Gallery
Performance
The Ballad of Gay Tony
In terms of performance, the Swift is slightly faster and more maneuverable than other large helicopters, such as the Maverick. While it is not as fast and armed as the Annihilator or the Buzzard, the Swift makes up for it with its handling, which proves to be efficient when landing in a hurry, as well as having a decent take off speed.
TBoGT Overview
| Take-Off Speed (0-60 knots in Seconds) |
Top Speed (mph / kmh / knots) |
Engine Type | Engine Location | Mass (kg / lbs) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | 99 / 160 / 86 | N/A | N/A | 3800 / 8378 |
| N/A | N/A | Turbo Shaft (TBOGT official site) | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | Twin turboshaft engines, 4-bladed rotor | Middle/Rear | Cannot be observed |
Grand Theft Auto V
The Swift is one of the fastest and most maneuverable helicopter available, compared to other helicopters such as the Frogger or Buzzard. However it is not particularly durable, as a hard landing almost always causes the tail to break off; it is also vulnerable to gunfire. For that reason, the Swift isn't very suitable for anything other than getting around quickly.
GTA V Overview
| Take-Off Speed (0-60 knots in Seconds) |
Top Speed (mph / kmh / knots) |
Vertical Climb/ Descent Rate (ft/min) |
Engine Type | Engine Location | Mass (kg / lbs) |
Fuel Tank Size (litres) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| N/A | 99 / 160 / 86 | N/A | N/A | N/A | 6500 / 14330 | 100 |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | Twin engine (Website) | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| N/A | N/A | N/A | Twin turboshaft engines, 4-bladed rotor | Middle/Rear | Cannot be observed | Cannot be observed |
Modifications
Grand Theft Auto Online
In the enhanced version, the Swift can be transferred from a Pegasus vehicle into a Personal Aircraft by entering the player's personal Hangar. Unlike other aircraft however, the Swift could not be resprayed due to the Flying Bravo livery. However, since August 2018 the option for respray has become available.
Image Gallery
The Ballad of Gay Tony
Grand Theft Auto V
Variants
Swift DeluxeGrand Theft Auto V & Grand Theft Auto Online |
 (Rear quarter view) |
The Swift Deluxe is the "Deluxe" version featured as part of the Ill-Gotten Gains Part 1 update. It has a gold paintjob and additional features on the interior, as well as the ability for the player to drink champagne and browse the internet via this vehicle. |
Locations
The Ballad of Gay Tony
- The Swift is available at the west Algonquin helipad near the West River during the beginning of the game to the end of the game. After the completion of the game, the Gold Buzzard will replace the Swift instead.
Obtaining after game's completion
- Swift with side doors closed
From the "Missions" menu on Luis' phone, choose the mission Caught with your Pants Down and meet Yusuf Amir at Star Junction. Get in his helicopter and fly to any GTA IV/TLAD/TBoGT safehouse and land the helicopter in the parking space. Immediately kill Amir and the player. The mission will fail, spawning Luis at the hospital. The Swift will now be at that current safehouse for you to obtain.
The player can also obtain the Swift with side doors closed by doing the club management mission featuring Bruce Spade. One can either complete the mission and keep the helicopter, or kill Bruce and fly away. The player have to take it to any parking space to save. The player cannot, however, redo club missions after they are completed, so it is only available at one point.
- Swift with side doors open
From the "missions" menu on Luis' phone, select the mission ...Blog This! and meet Gay Tony at the helipad. Immediately, the player has to kill Tony and then The Celebinator (killing The Celebinator first will fail the mission and Tony will fly away). The mission will fail and the player will now have a Swift at their disposal. One have to save it at any parking space if they want to keep it.
Grand Theft Auto V
- Original version
- Available on the protagonists' helipads after downloading the DLC. It will spawn either in a Classic black scheme or in a Flying Bravo red/green livery. However, the last one spawns frequently when selected in the helipad.
- Enhanced version only
- A black Swift can be seen taking off at the NOOSE Headquarters on Sustancia Road, in Palomino Highlands.
- The Flying Bravo/black variant can be seen landing at Los Santos International Airport.
- Can be bought for $1,600,000 (Classic or Flying Bravo) on ElitƔs Travel.
- A Flying Bravo variant can be seen flying along the coasts of Blaine County, usually near the RON Alternates Wind Farm.
Grand Theft Auto Online
- Can be bought for $1,500,000 (Classic) or $1,600,000 (Flying Bravo) on ElitƔs Travel, and will be available through Pegasus Lifestyle Management.
- In the enhanced version, the player can store a Swift in their personal Hangar and it will become a Personal Aircraft. It will be classed as a Medium aircraft.
- Included in the purchase of an Orion Yacht.[citation/verification needed]
Prominent Appearances in Missions
The Ballad Of Gay Tony
Grand Theft Auto Online
- Transform - Vinewood Thrills (as a transform)
Video
Trivia
The Ballad of Gay Tony
Santo Capro livery on the TBOGT Swift.
- Yusuf Amir's Swift bears a "Santo Capro" livery ("Santo" meaning "Holy" in Italian and Spanish and "Capro" being Italian for "Billygoat") with an emblem resembling a Sea Goat (Capricorn) and the year 1898. The same emblem can be seen on Yusuf's tracksuit jacket that he wears. Combined with the fact that he owns the helicopter, and wears the jacket, Santo Capro might be a company that the Amir estate runs.
- There is a similarly named clothing store company in Grand Theft Auto V called Santo Capra. Both shares the same logo and year.
- When the blades of the Swift rip apart, they will turn black instead of white and before they rip apart, one blade will be of darker colour and will be twisted. This explains that the "white blades" are actually blades with white color, as part of the entire color scheme.
- This version of the Swift can only hold two people, however in ...Blog This!, Luis, Tony, and The Celebinator all ride in one.
Grand Theft Auto V
- The Swift is the first helicopter to have an undercarriage that can be retracted, similar to planes.
- When a NPC lands a Swift they won't always extract the helicopter's landing gear, and as a result land on the Swift's undercarriage, sometimes tipping over and exploding as a result.
- The yellow tips on the Swift's main rotors cannot be seen when the blades are spinning, unlike other helicopters.
- The Rockstar Games Social Club image of the Swift shows an unknown paint scheme that does not appear in-game. It consists of a blue paint-job with white stripes on its tail. In-game, the Swift will only spawn in black with grey decals, or with the green/red Flying Bravo livery.
See Also
- Maverick - another civilian helicopter appearing in various Grand Theft Auto titles
- Frogger - another civilian helicopter appearing in Grand Theft Auto V.
- SuperVolito and SuperVolito Carbon - two luxury-type helicopter appearing in Grand Theft Auto Online, as part of the GTA Online: Executives and Other Criminals update.
- Swift Deluxe - "Deluxe" version of the vehicle added in the Ill-Gotten Gains Part 1 update.