This olive-skinned man was suspected of terrorism on his flight. He was just doing math.

American Airlines planes
(Image credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images)

On an American Airlines flight about to head from Philadelphia to Syracuse on Thursday, a man The Washington Post describes as olive-skinned and curly haired was scribbling away on a notepad and averting his neighbor's attempts at small talk.

That neighbor pulled the ol' "see something, say something," reporting the man to the flight attendant, which in turn delayed the flight. Guido Menzio, an award-winning economist at the University of Pennsylvania, was reportedly escorted from the plane and interrogated for being suspected of terrorism.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.