Ban on open-air tourist copters

THE CITY IS officially banning “doors off” helicopter flights from taking off from within the five boroughs.

An open-door sightseeing flight — which took off from New Jersey and is not covered by city rules — crashed in the East River last month, killing five people.

Now the Economic Development Corp. plans to announce Wednesday that it has put new rules into its agreement with helicopter companies that take off from the Downtown Manhattan Heliport to prohibit the flights, the Daily News has learned.

The heliport doesn’t currently have any open-door flights, but city officials say they want to make sure they’re not allowed to happen in the future.

The Downtown Manhattan Heliport is the only spot within the city where tourist flights are allowed to take off.

After years of complaints about noise, the city struck a deal to cut the number of flights in half. But the deadly crash reinvigorated a debate about whether tourist flights should be banned altogether.

Passengers were strapped into extensive harnesses on the opendoor flight — and are believed to have drowned after they were unable to escape the restraints when the chopper went down.