American Eagle Flight 3950 was going from Philadelphia to Syracuse. A woman started talking to the man next to her. He was 40-years-old, with dark hair, a beard and an exotic accent. “Is Syracuse home?” the 30-something blond-haired woman asked. “No,” he replied. She followed with several more questions, but he gave very brief answers because he was focused on writings he was scribbling. The plane was fully boarded and the woman flagged down the flight attendant and handed her a note.
The plane did not take off and stayed on the tarmac for about half an hour.
The flight attendant approached the female passenger again and asked if she now felt okay to fly or if she was “too sick.” She retorted, “I’m OK to fly.”
The plane then turned around and went back to the gate. The woman was soon escorted off the plane. The pilot then went to the man with the accent who the woman was just sitting next to, and he too was escorted off the plane. The man, Guido Menzio, was then questioned by an agent in the airport.
The woman told authorities that she suspected that Guido was a terrorist scribbling Arabic writings that were a plot to destroy the plane.
When questioned Guido laughed because the scribbles weren’t Arabic or any foreign language at all, they were math. Guido is a decorated Ivy League economist from Italy who has tenured associate professorship at the University of Pennsylvania as well as worked at Princeton and Stanford’s Hoover Institution. They were differential equations. The plane finally landed in Syracuse nearly two and a half hours late.
Don’t worry ma’am, I’m being just as vigilant as you and I’ve already contacted the Federal Bureau of Investigation about these three terrorists who I saw conducting suspicious activities.