A New Jersey man whose text message about hijacking the plane he was on forced the aircraft to return to Las Vegas has claimed the missive was just 'banter between coworkers.'
Dante Milne, 25, was arrested on Saturday after he sent the text message while onboard United Airlines Flight 1681 and was charged with making a threat or offering false information in an act of terrorism.
His attorney, James Gallo, told a judge on Tuesday that Milne intends to plead not guilty in the case after he told police how he drunkenly sent the text message to a colleague sitting in a different row but never intended to actually hijack the plane.
Milne had said he consumed beer and shots at a bar at Harry Reid International Airport before he boarded the plane to Newark, New Jersey.
He then exchanged text messages with another passenger whom he met at a three-day apprenticeship training program associated with his work as an underwater welder.
It was in one of those text messages that Milne allegedly wrote: 'I'm gonna hijack this b***h and crash ur row only.'
But when he was later questioned about the message, police said 'Milne characterized the wording as poorly stated and suggested the conversation involved banter between coworkers.
'Milne denied intending to hijack the aircraft, crash it, or harm anyone,' reads the arrest report obtained by The Associated Press.
Dante Milne, 25, was onboard a United Airlines plane traveling from Las Vegas to Newark, New Jersey on Saturday when he sent another passenger a text message threatening to hijack the aircraft. A United Airlines plane is pictured
The text message forced the plane to return to the airport
Yet when a flight attendant noticed the incoming message on the other passenger's phone that began with the words 'I'm gonna hijack,' the flight attendant believed it was a potential security threat and notified the lead flight attendant, Fox 5 Vegas reports.
The crew then waited until the aircraft passed 10,000 feet, to notify the captain, the flight attendant told police, noting that was 'consistent with sterile flight deck procedures.'
At that point, the flight attendant said, cockpit security procedures were followed as the captain reported the incident to air traffic control.
The pilot could be heard in a recording telling an air traffic controller that a flight attendant reported the text message, so they proceeded to return to Las Vegas.
He noted that the 'passenger does not know anything is going on.'
'No restraint. Passenger is compliant because he is unaware,' the pilot said.
Milne later told police he was asleep on the flight – and awoke to learn that the flight was returning back to Las Vegas.
Once the plane then arrived back in Sin City, federal authorities confronted Milne on the plane, and he was taken into custody.
Milne told police he consumed beer and shots at a bar at Harry Reid International Airport before boarding the plane
When he was later questioned about the text messages, Milne initially said he could not recall the content.
But when he was then confronted about the message threatening to hijack the plane, he denied intending to hijack the aircraft, crash it or harm anyone.
The police report notes that Milne acknowledged the seriousness of the aircraft having to return to Las Vegas and expressed his remorse for the incident.
Milne was then booked into the Clark County Jail, but has since bailed out. As part of his bail conditions, he was told to stay out of trouble, according to 8 News Now.
Meanwhile, the 149 other passengers had to wait in Vegas overnight, as the flight crew had exceeded their mandated operating hours. The flight departed on Sunday morning.
'United flight 1681 from Las Vegas to Newark on Saturday, Oct. 24, safely returned to Las Vegas to address a potential security concern. The flight was delayed overnight due to crew timeout, and departed for Newark on Sunday morning,' the airline previously told The Daily Mail.
Milne is now due back in court on January 5.
