United Jet Turns Back Over a Hijacking Text. The Accused Passenger Is Already Out on Bail

A flight attendant on a red-eye out of Las Vegas looked down at a passenger's phone and saw him texting that he was going to hijack the plane. She called the captain. The cockpit was locked down, United Flight 1681 turned around, and police were waiting when it landed. On Monday, Las Vegas police named the man: Dante Milne, 25, booked on a Nevada felony for making a threat of terrorism.

Then came the part that should bother everyone who flies. Court records show Milne posted bond on $10,000 bail, FOX5 Vegas reported, and he is due in court Tuesday. The charge he faces carries two to 20 years in prison.

What happened in the air

Flight 1681 was a Boeing 737 headed from Harry Reid International Airport to Newark Liberty with 150 passengers and six crew members. It left the gate at 10:37 p.m. Saturday, according to FlightAware times cited by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Shortly after takeoff, the flight attendant spotted the message. In air traffic control audio first reported by Simple Flying, the pilot explains it to a Las Vegas controller who asks whether the passenger was "compliant or restrained":

"The passenger doesn't know anything is going on. The flight attendant saw him texting that he was going to hijack the aircraft and called me and we went lockdown. No restraint; the passenger is compliant because he's unaware."

That is the whole play, and the crew ran it perfectly. Nobody tipped him off. Nobody started a fight in the aisle at 24,000 feet. They sealed the cockpit door, declared an emergency and brought 150 people home. Think of a teacher who spots a note being passed and quietly walks to the principal instead of grabbing it in front of the class.

The jet had loaded fuel for a nearly five-hour trip, and a 737 can't dump fuel, Simple Flying noted, so the crew brought it back heavy and slow and warned controllers it might need the full length of Runway 26L. It turned over the Arizona border and landed back in Las Vegas at 11:42 p.m., per FlightAware.

What police and the airline say

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police put it plainly in a release Monday: "LVMPD officers responded to Harry Reid International Airport regarding a person who made terroristic threats on a flight. Because of this, the airplane turned around and landed safely back in Las Vegas. Officers detained the individual without incident." Milne was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one count of making a threat or conveying false information about an act of terrorism, the Review-Journal reported.

United's statement was shorter: the flight "safely returned to Las Vegas to address a potential security concern" and, after the crew timed out, left for Newark the next morning. The Federal Aviation Administration said it will investigate. No one was hurt.

The law, and the bail

Here's what most coverage skipped. Nevada's threat-of-terrorism statute makes it a category B felony to knowingly make a threat about an act of terrorism through any "oral, written or electronic communication," including a text, with intent to alarm people, cause panic or disrupt government operations. It applies "whether or not any person is actually injured, intimidated or alarmed." The penalty is two to 20 years in state prison and a fine of up to $5,000.

Federal law has its own rule. Under 49 U.S.C. 46507, threatening to hijack an aircraft, with an apparent will to carry it out, is punishable by up to five years. As of Monday, no federal charge had been announced, and neither the FBI nor federal prosecutors had said anything publicly about the case.

Put those numbers side by side. A man accused of a felony that carries up to 20 years walked out of jail for a bond on $10,000 before his first hearing.

What nobody has answered yet

Police have not released what the text said word for word, who it was sent to, or whether Milne told officers it was a joke. They haven't said whether he had any weapon or anything else of concern on board, or why he was flying to Newark. The airline hasn't said whether he is now banned from United, and the FAA hasn't said whether it will seek a civil fine.

Tuesday's hearing in Las Vegas is the first chance to hear any of that in open court. Until then, the one clear hero here is the flight attendant who saw something, said something and let the pilots do the rest.