Two Stories About Flying Class 10: Summary and Question Answers

Two Stories About Flying Class 10 has two short stories: His First Flight by Liam O'Flaherty and The Black Aeroplane by Frederick Forsyth. This guide gives you a clear summary of each, the characters and themes, and eight board-style question answers to help you revise.

Part 1: His First Flight — Summary

A young seagull sits alone on a ledge. His brothers and sister have already learnt to fly, but he is too afraid. His wings are actually larger than theirs. Still, he believes the sea far below is too deep and that his wings will never hold him up. So he stays in a small hole on the cliff.

His parents try to push him. They fly around him, call out shrilly and upbraid (scold) him for being a coward. They even threaten to let him starve on the ledge unless he flies. But his fear of the desperate plunge is stronger than his hunger, and he stays there for twenty-four hours, watching his family fly and catch fish.

After a day without food, he is maddened by hunger. He watches his mother tear at a piece of fish. When he begs for food, she flies towards him with the fish but stops just out of reach. Without thinking, he dives at the fish.

As he falls into space, a monstrous terror grips him, but only for a moment. His wings spread outwards, and he feels the wind against his feathers. He is no longer falling headlong. He is soaring. His family flies around him, celebrating.

When he tries to land on the sea, he fears he will sink. Instead he finds that he can float. His family celebrates and offers him food. He has moved from doubting his body to trusting it.

His First Flight — Stages and Themes

Themes: fear as a barrier we build in our own minds; the step from depending on others to relying on oneself; trusting abilities we already have. Remember this is a story about a bird. The parents' way of withholding food is part of the story, not advice on how to teach children courage.

Part 2: The Black Aeroplane — Summary

The narrator is a pilot flying an old Dakota aeroplane from France to England. He is relaxed and dreaming of a holiday and a good big English breakfast with his family.

About 150 kilometres past Paris, he sees huge storm clouds that look like black mountains. He has to choose: go back to Paris and be safe, or fly through the storm to get home. Because he wants to be with his family, he takes the risk.

Inside the storm, everything turns pitch black. His instruments, including the compass and the radio, suddenly die. He cannot see anything outside, and the plane jumps and twists in the rough air. He is lost.

Then a black aeroplane with no lights on its wings appears beside him. Its pilot waves and signals him to follow. Relieved, the narrator follows like an obedient child. The guide leads him through the clouds until he sees the lights of a runway, and he lands safely.

He wants to thank the other pilot. But the woman in the control centre tells him there were no other planes in the sky. His was the only one on the radar. The story ends without explaining who the pilot of the black aeroplane was.

The Black Aeroplane — Themes

• Risk and its cost: The narrator's wish to get home leads him into danger.
• Help in a crisis: An unexpected guide appears when he is most helpless.
• Mystery: The ending is left open. The story does not prove that the guide was a ghost, a miracle or something the narrator imagined. Readers are left to wonder.

Important Question Answers

1. Why did the young seagull not fly with his brothers and sister? He lacked the courage to take the plunge. He was sure his wings would not support him, and the great stretch of sea below frightened him.

2. How did his parents try to make him fly? They flew around him, called shrilly, scolded him for cowardice and threatened to let him starve on the ledge unless he flew.

3. How did the mother seagull get him to fly? She flew near him with a piece of fish but stopped just out of reach. Maddened by hunger, he dived at the fish, fell off the ledge, and his wings opened.

4. What happened when he landed on the sea? At first he feared he would sink, but he found that he could float. His family celebrated and offered him food.

5. What risk did the pilot take, and why? He flew his old Dakota straight into a huge storm instead of going back to Paris. He did it because he wanted to reach England in time for breakfast with his family.

6. What went wrong inside the storm? It became pitch black, his compass and radio stopped working, he could not see outside, and the plane jumped and twisted in the rough air.

7. Why was the narrator shocked by the woman's words at the control centre? She said his was the only plane on the radar. This clashed with what he had experienced, since he had followed another pilot, so the guide's identity stays unexplained.

8. How does the seagull's experience reflect growing up? At first he waits for his parents to feed him, but in the end he must dive into the unknown. Hunger forces the plunge, and the plunge shows him strengths he already had. Growing up often asks us to face a fear in this way.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Do not say the seagull's wings were weak. They were larger than his siblings'; his problem was fear.
• Do not write that the black aeroplane was definitely a ghost. The story leaves it unexplained.
• Do not mix up the two writers: His First Flight is by Liam O'Flaherty; The Black Aeroplane is by Frederick Forsyth.
• In long answers, make a claim, give evidence from the story in your own words, and explain it, rather than retelling the whole plot.

The chapter also includes two poems, How to Tell Wild Animals and The Ball Poem, which are worth studying on their own. To revise both stories with quick checks, study this chapter with Joy.