Woman carries loaded gun on plane completely undetected

TSA missed it 

BETH DEFALCO

They’re blinder than the replacement refs!

Bungling TSA airport screeners at Orlando International Airport failed to notice a loaded handgun in a woman’s carry-on bag yesterday — and she was able to fly to New Jersey with the pistol in her purse.

United Flight 15 was already in the air when the passenger, an unidentified 37-year-old Florida woman, realized her .380 caliber Ruger was in her handbag, said Port Authority police spokesman Al Della Fave.

The woman is an Orlando-area firefighter who is licensed to carry the gun, a source said.

She didn’t tell anyone on the plane about the weapon during the flight, which left Florida at 8:19 a.m.

But when she landed at Newark Airport at 10:24, she immediately told a Port Authority police officer.

“She was visibly upset. She said she had a license to carry it and just forgot it,” Della Fave said. “The [Port Authority] officer took possession of the handgun and made it safe.”

The officer contacted the Essex County prosecutor, who declined to prosecute the woman because she self-reported the incident.

The TSA had no explanation last night about how the weapon was missed during screening.

“TSA is aware of this situation and is reviewing the circumstances,” said Lisa Farbstein, a spokeswoman for the agency.

It’s not the first time TSA screeners have missed a weapon.

In April, a Manhattan woman carried a switchblade through La Guardia Airport’s security screening, and made it all the way to the gate before cops managed to stop her.

In March, it took TSA agents 10 minutes before they called cops on a Manhattan woman who walked through security screening at Kennedy Airport carrying a dagger in her bag.

And in 2011, a pharmaceutical businessman managed to carry a 5-inch ceramic blade onto a flight from Puerto Rico to Newark, and wasn’t caught until he reached his destination.

Last year, the head of the TSA admitted that federal airport screeners find four or five handguns each day in people’s checked bags.

In the first seven months of the year, TSA agents seized 821 guns, rifles and pistols, which were discovered in carry-on luggage at 160 different airports.

bdefalco@nypost.com