Black Aeroplane Summary | Two stories about flying | Class 10 English book First Flight

Black Aeroplane | Two stories about flying | Class 10 English book First Flight

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Prose - 3

TWO STORIES ABOUT FLYING (Part - 2)

THE BLACK AEROPLANE

-By Frederick  Forsyth       

Names of the characters:-

(1) The Pilot of Dakota aeroplane (The Narrator)

(2) Another Pilot (of the black aeroplane)

(3)The woman in the control centre. (One who tells the narrator about the reality)

SUMMARY:-

      The story “The Black Aeroplane” by Frederick Forsyth is about a journey of a pilot and one obstacle where he also found one another pilot who saved his life. It was the journey from France to England in an aeroplane. On the way, the pilot was dreaming of being with his family and to have the English breakfast. The plane was Dakota DS-088 and was flying at night. After the journey of 150 Km, suddenly the pilot saw storm clouds with the size of a huge mountain. It was just in front of him and he was in a confusion whether he should return back or should face the storm to get the result  as the England breakfast. He noticed that the cloud was looking so dangerous, but finally he entered the clouds and found that the compass and the radio had stopped working. He was completely helpless. Suddenly he noticed that a black aeroplane was flying just beside his aeroplane. He noticed that the pilot inside it was trying to give him the hint to follow him. He began to follow him and to do the same as instructed, just like an obedient child. After sometime he noticed that the fuel in the second tank was left only for the Journey for 5 to 10 minutes. He began to feel frightened but was following the other aeroplane continuously. Suddenly he noticed that he was out of the storm and the runway of an airport was being seen. After watching that he got relaxed and landed his aeroplane. He was trying to find out the other pilot and the black aeroplane, but couldn’t see them. After landing his aeroplane, he went to the woman who was sitting in the control centre and asked her about the black aeroplane. But when he found the answer in the negative, he was shocked by who actually saved him. Then surprisingly, he began to think continuously about the incident and finally couldn’t reach to any conclusion whether the black aeroplane was his imagination or did any other miracle occur?

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NCERT IMPORTANT QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

Short answer type questions

Q.1. "I will take the risk." What kind of risk was there? Why did the narrator take him?

Answer:

The ‘risk’ was to fly the  old Dakota plane  straight into the storm. The narrator took the risk because  he wanted to get home so that he could be at the breakfast with his family.

Q.2. Why did the narrator say, "I landed and was not sorry to walk away from the old Dokota  ?

Answer:

The author was not apologetic from old Dakota. Because it had saved his life. It and the mysterious plane had saved his life.

Q.3. Why did the lady in the control room give the pilot a stern look? 

Answer:

The narrator asked the woman about the mysterious plane  but the lady did not see any such plane as the narrator was explaining to her. So she gave a stern look to the narrator's question.

Q.4. "They looked like black mountains." To whom the narrator compared black mountain with and why?

Answer: 

The narrator was talking about the storm. It was looking very dangerous. It was completely black and large so that the narrator compared it with black mountain

Long answer type questions

Q.1. Describe the narrator's experience as he flew into a storm.

Answer:

The narrator found that it was suddenly dark inside him. He could see nothing. The plane jumped and twisted in the air. He noticed that the compass and radio are not working. He was lost in the storm. Then he saw another plane. It had no light on its wings. But it guided  him to come out from the storm and then disappeared when the author was safe. 

Q.2. Who do you think helped the narrator securely access? Discuss this and give reasons for your answer.

Answer:

I think some supernatural force has helped the narrator to reach it safely. Otherwise how could he fly safely through those dark clouds? 

Also it may be the spirit of some other pilot who had died in the same situation and now he was helping other pilots to be safe in such situations.

The factors that suggest this, are: 

• The appearance of an obscure plane at the time.

• how could he know that the narrator was in trouble.

• how a mysterious pilot can direct it and then disappear.

• why the control tower did not have such contact, etc.

NCERT solution class 10 : Click Here