“Crew of Two” Completion with DLCs

After spending some time in Image as Designed in SR2 and in the SR3 Initiation Station, it's clear that you cannot create the same character in both games by using the same values.

While both games share nearly all the same customization sliders, the values are relative, not absolute. This can be most easily seen by switching ethnicities within the same game. Even with the same skin tone and all sliders set to 50 (the default), characters will not look the same if they were created from different ethnicities because different "bases" underlie your customizations.

Similarly, SR2 and SR3 use different bases, even for the same ethnicities. While it might be possible to create the same face in both games, they won't have the same customization values, making it impossible to easily "port" characters.

The earliest I have found that you can unlock a helicopter is during the main storyline. Once you complete the mission Trojan Whores, you receive a Vulture helicopter for the mission reward. It's accessible at the Saints HQ pad in Sunset Park. Just go outside next to the pool (after you're inside the HQ, so the outside of the penthouse) and you'll see the floating key indicating a garage, which is where you'll be able to store future helicopters.

I was level 15 when I acquired this, which is 9 levels earlier than you can receive the Heli Homie. I'd also done a bunch of activities on the side to raise my level though, so if you just go straight for the Trojan Whores mission, you'll unlock it earlier.