Hey there!
I remember that helicopter mission and it was so darned hard! I played that quite a number of times but unlike you, I never succeeded. Good thing it wasn't in the main storylines haha!
Played San Andreas as well and even though it was much bigger and had a lot going on as an open-world game, I think vice city looked better. I didn't like some of the SA animations at all.
I remember playing Most Wanted too. Possibly the best racing game ever? The story had it going for me. Usually, racing games do not have a believable story that a gamer might care about. Most Wanted was different in this regard.