A United Airlines pilot admits he stood naked in the window of his 10th-floor room at the Westin Hotel at Denver International Airport, but says he had no idea he was visible to anyone inside the main terminal — and he’s horrified to now face a criminal charge of indecent exposure.

“We’re not disputing the fact that I was standing nude in front of the hotel window,” 54-year-old Capt. Andrew Collins said of the Sept. 20 incident when reached at his Leesburg, Va., home Monday.

Collins, a 22-year veteran of the airline, acknowledged that witnesses — including some fellow United Airlines employees — offered different accounts of what happened during his stay at the hotel across from the glass wall of DIA’s canopied main terminal.

One federal Transportation Security Administration officer told police he could see Collins “touching himself” and waving at him. That’s absurd, Collins said, adding that he had never previously been arrested for anything in his life.

“Some witnesses said I was dancing, gyrating and waving,” he said. “I’m completely innocent. It’s really unfortunate that it happened at all.”

A Denver police probable cause statement says Collins “knowingly and willfully” exposed his genitals. Two United Airlines employees and a passenger saw Collins and gave credible explanations of the incident, the police report says.

“The suspect did open the window to his hotel room, which overlooks the hotel plaza, and in full view of the public did stand in his window fully nude, exposing himself and his genitalia to the general public,” the police report said.

The incident happened nearly three months ago. Collins said he had been awake for more then 30 hours straight after being diverted to several different airports across the country during a severe thunderstorm. He got up late, around 10:30 a.m.

“I was getting ready for a shower and was talking on the phone,” he said. “It was a beautiful morning and I opened the curtains to my window. I couldn’t see the terminal.”

He was on the telephone for 24 minutes, Collins said.

Suddenly, someone was pounding on the door of a hotel room. Collins said he thought it was some kind of a gag. He soon learned differently as several police officers loudly announced their presence. When he opened the door, they had their guns drawn, Collins said. They soon handcuffed Collins and locked him inside an airport jail.

“It was a surreal experience, I’ll tell you,” Collins said.

Though Collins told The Denver Post he had not been suspended from work, United Airlines spokeswoman Erin Benson said Monday that the pilot has been “removed from his duties pending an internal review. We are cooperating with authorities on their investigation.”

Collins hired well-known attorney and Denver radio talk-show host Craig Silverman to represent him in the criminal matter. In a statement to the newspaper on Monday, Silverman said he went to the exact room Collins stayed in at the Westin on Nov. 12.

“From this hotel room, you cannot see people going about their business inside the concourse,” Silverman wrote. “The concourse windows are tinted green and are opaque and reflective. It’s like looking at a green wall or a green mirror.”

But the same is not true for those inside the main DIA terminal, Silverman found.

“From inside the concourse, at that time of the morning, unbeknownst to my client, you can see into the Westin rooms, but the distance is such that you cannot see much other than a human form. My client had a reasonable expectation that no one could see into his window. He was unaware of any people looking at him as he focused on his important phone call while walking around his room,” Silverman said. “There is zero evidence of any sexual activity demonstrating an intent to arouse or to satisfy the sexual desire of any person.”

Silverman further said police entered the room without a warrant and that he is confident that Denver District Attorney Beth McCann and her staff will dismiss the case.

Collins is due to appear in Denver County Court on the misdemeanor charge on Dec. 5.

At the time of the incident, Collins was running for president of the Air Line Pilots Association. He said that when police arrested him, he thought about his campaign for national union president. The election was only three weeks away, and members of his own local union showed his police mug shot around during a meeting, he said.

“I shut the campaign down after that,” said Collins, who was chairman of the union’s Council 11.