CBSE Class 10 English Two Stories about Flying Important Questions Set 03

Short Answer Questions

Question 1. Why did the pilot fly straight into the storm instead of returning to Paris?
Answer: The pilot had a strong desire to get back home and have breakfast with his family. That is why, pilot took the risk and flew straight into the storm instead of going back to Paris.

Question 2. Did the Paris Control hear the pilot, the second time he called? Why?
Answer: No, because when the pilot tried to contact the Paris Control Room, he failed to do so as his radio was dead.

Question 3. Describe the black clouds from the point of view of the pilot.
Answer: When Paris was about 150 kilometres behind me, I saw the black clouds in front of me. They were huge clouds looked like black mountains standing in front of me across the sky. They were stormy and I could not fly up and over them.

Question 4. How did the black aeroplane rescue the first pilot?
Answer: The pilot of the black aeroplane guided the first pilot and helped him arrive safely at the airport.

Question 5. Was the pilot of the Dakota able to meet the pilot of the black aeroplane?
Answer: No, the pilot of the Dakota could not meet the pilot of the black aeroplane. The first pilot even went to the Control Room to find who the other pilot was, but he could not find him. The black aeroplane disappeared without being seen by anyone even on the ‘radar’.

Question 6. The narrator says, “I landed and was not sorry to walk away from the old Dakota”. Elucidate.
Answer: The statement suggests that the narrator had a frightening and unpleasant experience flying the aircraft through the storm. His emotion of not being sorry to leave the plane implies that he was relieved, even glad, to part ways with it after landing safely.

Question 7. Justify the act of the pilot of the old Dakota in following the pilot of the black aeroplane.
Answer: The pilot of the old Dakota followed the pilot of the black aeroplane because he was stuck in the deadly storm and wasn’t able to find his way out. His compass and radio were dead and he was low on fuel. The black aeroplane’s pilot signalled him to follow his plane out of the dark clouds, so following him was his only hope.

Question 8. The story ‘His First Flight’ is a powerful example of a supportive dynamic within the family. Explain.
Answer: The members of the seagull’s family leave him behind with the intention of encouraging him to take the initiative and fly on his own. This suggests a supportive and nurturing dynamic within the family. It implies that they have confidence and faith in the seagull’s abilities and believe that he is ready to venture out independently.

Question 9. The pilot’s judgement about the storm went wrong. Comment.
Answer: The pilot decided to take a risk by flying through the storm, but his judgement went wrong. As soon as he went inside the clouds, his aeroplane jumped and twisted in the air. The compass stopped functioning and other instruments also went dead. His attempts to contact Paris Control proved futile. His radio went dead too and he got lost in the storm.

Question 10. A monstrous terror seized the young seagull. Justify with reference to the chapter ‘His First Flight’.
Answer: The young seagull was petrified of taking a plunge off the cliff. When he dived towards the fish that his mother was holding in her beak, he fell outwards and downwards into space. A monstrous terror then seized him and his heart stood still. For a minute he went blank and could not hear anything out of fear.

Question 11. The young seagull “failed to muster up courage to take that plunge”. In what way can the reference to the ‘plunge’ here be both literal and metaphorical? Explain. (CBSE Practice Set 2023)
Answer: ‘Plunge’ means to jump or dive suddenly. Here, it literally refers to the dive the seagull had to make in order to take its first flight. Metaphorically, it refers to the leap of faith it had to take, trusting its wings to support its body and trusting its family members.

Question 12. Explain how hunger is nature’s strongest motivator in the story ‘His First Flight’. (CBSE Practice Set 2023)
Answer: In the story, the seagull was afraid to fly until his intense hunger made him forget his fear. As his hunger deepened, his fear of flying became secondary to his overpowering desire for food. This is why, when his mother offered him a piece of fish, he dived at the food and thus took his first flight.

Question 13. Validate the given statement with reference to the baby seagull’s fear: ‘Fear doesn’t exist anywhere else other than one’s mind.’ (CBSE SQP 2022)
Answer: The baby seagull was afraid to fly off the ledge even after his siblings had flown off without facing any problems. He was afraid to take the leap because he felt that his wings would not support him. A seagull’s wings are meant to support it and therefore, the fear lay only in his mind.

Question 14. Explain what made the narrator say the given lines in the story ‘The Black Aeroplane’.
Refer to the given lines from the text:
I was very happy to go behind the strange aeroplane like an obedient child.
Answer: The narrator was lost in the storm with a dead radio and compass and very little fuel. When the black aeroplane appeared and its pilot signalled him to follow, he felt hope and relief. Having no other way out, he trusted the stranger completely and followed him just as an obedient child follows an elder.

Question 15. Justify the opinion that the seagull’s mother played a significant role in helping him overcome his fear.
Answer: The mother knew that hunger would push her son to act. She stood before him tearing at a fish, then flew close with a piece of fish in her beak and stopped just out of reach. Maddened by hunger, he dived at it and found himself flying. Her clever plan helped him overcome his fear.

Question 16. The young seagull thinks the idea of jumping off the ledge is ‘desperate’. Explain.
Answer: To the young seagull, the great expanse of sea below looked endless and his wings seemed too weak to support him. Jumping off the ledge therefore felt like a dangerous, last-resort act that could end in death. Only extreme hunger finally drove him to take this ‘desperate’ step.

Question 17. What scared the young seagull from taking its first flight?
Answer: The young seagull was afraid to take its first flight because it thought that if it jumped off from the cliff, it would fall and hurt itself.

Question 18. Why did the seagull’s parents threaten and cajole it to fly?
Answer: The parents of the young seagull threatened and cajoled it to fly because, unlike its siblings who took their first flight quite easily with the help of their parents, the young seagull refused to take off as it could not muster enough courage to follow suit. Its parents threatened to let it starve on the cliff, yet it wouldn’t fly.

Question 19. “The sight of the food maddened him.” Explain.
Answer: Staying true to their threat, the young seagull’s family left it on the cliff to starve. It had been twenty-four hours since it had last eaten. Hunger and heat were taking their toll on the poor young seagull, but no one cared about its plight. Its mother was tearing at a piece of fish. Watching her do so heightened the young seagull’s hunger; its hunger was becoming more and more unbearable.

Question 20. What was the risk that the narrator was willing to take? What made him do it?
Answer: While the narrator was flying back to England from Paris in his small Dakota aeroplane, he came face to face with a storm with mountainous black clouds. The narrator knew that flying around the storm was not possible as he did not have enough fuel, and flying through the storm was risky, especially for the kind of plane he was flying. But he was willing to take that risk.
The thought of being with his family, going on a holiday and enjoying a proper English breakfast made him take the risk.

Question 21. What happened after the narrator flew straight into the storm?
Answer: Inside the storm, everything was black, and it was impossible for him to see anything. The compass, the radio and the other instruments of the Dakota went dead. He could not make contact with Paris Control. The narrator soon realised that he was lost.

Question 22. Where did the black aeroplane come from? What did it do?
Answer: Feeling stuck and lost inside the storm, the narrator couldn’t find a way out. Suddenly, he saw another aeroplane flying next to him through the storm. It had no lights on its wings, but the pilot was visible to the narrator.
The pilot of the black aeroplane gestured to the narrator to follow him and the latter obeyed. After guiding the narrator for half an hour, the black aeroplane helped him to come out of the storm and led him safely to the runway of an airport.

Question 23. Why was the young seagull afraid to fly? Do you think all young birds are afraid to make their first flight, or are some birds more timid than others? Do you think a human baby also finds it a challenge to take its first steps? (NCERT)
Answer: The young seagull worried that if he let go of the ledge, he would fall down and his wings would not support him. He was scared that he would crash miles down into the ground. All young birds are afraid to make their first flight. Even human babies take a few falls before mastering the art of walking.

Question 24. “The sight of the food maddened him.” What does this suggest? What compelled the young seagull to finally fly? (NCERT)
Answer: This suggests that he was so hungry that he forgot his fear of flying and falling and rushed towards the food. In the bargain he managed to fly. He had not eaten for more than twenty four hours and was so hungry that on seeing his mother right in front of him with a piece of fish in her beak, he swooped towards it and ended up flying.

Question 25. “The sight of the food maddened him.” What does this suggest? (His First Flight)
Answer: The young seagull was very hungry. His mother had a piece of fish in her beak and she was teasing the young seagull with it. Because the sight of the food “maddened” him, he wanted to snatch it from his mother.

Question 26. How did the young seagull’s parents teach him to fly?
Answer: After one day of scolding and cajoling the young seagull to fly, the parents were fed up. The young seagull was hungry and when he called for his mother, she flew towards him with some food. The seagull in his hunger just dived towards the food and learnt to fly.

Question 27. What did the seagull call the surface of the sea? Did he land on it confidently?
Answer: The young seagull referred to the sea surface as green flooring. When he landed on it, his feet just sank in and he thought he would drown but soon realised that he floated over it and was even able to paddle along.

Question 28. What did the parents of the seagull do when the young seagull failed to gather up courage to fly?
Answer: The parents of the young seagull separated him from them and threatened him with a condition that he would get food only after flying successfully. For a whole day, the young seagull was left alone and starving. At last the young seagull’s mother deliberately tore a piece of fish at a distance so that the sight of food pushed the hungry seagull to fly. In this way, the young seagull’s parents encouraged him to fly.

Question 29. ‘He uttered a joyful scream' – Who uttered a joyful scream? Why did he do it?
Answer: The young seagull uttered a joyful scream. He did this because he saw his mother flying near him with a piece of fish, which could appease his growing hunger. He thought that his mother would feed his hungry son and take pity on him. So he screamed with joy.

Question 30. Describe the narrator’s experience as he flew the aeroplane into the storm. (NCERT)
Answer: As the pilot entered the storms, everything got dark around him. He could not see anything. His compass was going round in circles and none of the gauges in the plane were working. He then saw a black aeroplane with no lights flying towards him. The pilot of that plane beckoned him to follow, which the narrator did and landed safely.

Question 31. What consequence did the pilot face because of the risk he undertook by entering the storm clouds?
Answer: The pilot lost contact with the ground. The old aeroplane jumped and twisted in the storm. The compass failed and the radio with other instruments went dead. The pilot felt he was lost in the cloud.

Question 32. Who rescued the pilot of Dakota in the storm? How?
Answer: A pilot in a black aeroplane rescued the Dakota and its pilot in the storm. The black aeroplane beckoned the pilot of Dakota to follow him and took him out of the storm to a safe airport.

Question 33. The dream of having a hearty breakfast turned out to be a mystifying adventure for the Dakota pilot. Give your opinion in this regard.
Answer: The dream of having a hearty breakfast could have been fatal had it not been for the mysterious black aeroplane that guided him to safety. With hardly any fuel in the tank, the Dakota hovering inside the storm suddenly found itself safely landed on an unknown destination, thus saving the pilot miraculously.

Question 34. "Who was the pilot on the strange black aeroplane, flying in the storm, without lights?" Who was the rescuer from the Black Aeroplane? Did the lady from the control room give any information about the Black Aeroplane?
Answer: The Black Aeroplane might be an illusion of the author or the driver of the old Dakota which is thought to have appeared to rescue him during the storm. It might also be God's help sent to him. The lady in the control room didn't see any such black aeroplane in the sky except the old Dakota.

Question 35. ‘I couldn’t believe my eyes'- Why was the narrator so shocked?
Answer: When the narrator decided to take the risk and fly through the storm, he could not believe his eyes when he looked at the instruments in the plane. The compass along with the other instruments of the plane suddenly stopped working. They were dead suddenly. Nothing worked. This shocked the narrator as it could lead to a big accident. He almost gave up all his hopes.

Long Answer Questions

Question 1. ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child.’ Do you think the young seagull was not ready to fly due to lenient treatment by his family in the beginning? What made him fly later on? What is the role of motivation in learning?
Answer: ‘Spare the rod and spoil the child’. No, I don’t agree with this statement.
No learning can take place under fear. It is the motivation that makes learning easy. The seagull was too scared to fly. It was a new thing for him. When he saw the vast sea, he could not take courage and fly. He was too young and was being taken care of by his parents. It was natural that his parents were feeding him. It can’t be called a lenient treatment.
He was, no doubt, threatened by his parents, but it was just to make him realise how important it was to fly. It was a question of his survival. The mother seagull tempted him with a piece of fish. He fell to temptation and dived into the vast sea. He was encouraged by his family and he learnt the art of flying.
Motivation, encouragement and family support help in learning. The rod must be spared.

Question 2. Fear and lack of confidence stop one from learning new things. Do you agree? How did these two traits of the young seagull make him coward? How did he overcome these shortcomings?
Answer: Yes, it is true that fear and lack of confidence stop us from learning new things.
The young seagull lacked the value of courage and confidence in his character. He was the last member, in his family, to learn the art of flight. He was too scared to fly. His parents and other siblings encouraged him constantly. When it did not work, they scolded him for his cowardice. The mother seagull tricked him and tempted him with a piece of fish. He was kept hungry. His hunger and need for food forced him to dive into the sea.
Though he was not willing to learn the art of flying yet he was tricked by his family. Once he dived, his fear disappeared and he enjoyed his first flight.
It is a fact that unless we try for something and overcome our fear we can’t learn anything. Confidence and motivation are two important traits that make any learning possible.

Question 3. Does the situation of the young seagull arouse sympathy for him? Does sympathy always help? Do you think providing food to the young seagull out of sympathy would have helped him?
Answer: The young seagull was afraid of flying. He thought that his wings could not support him. He pretended to be falling asleep and called his mother for food. He was hungry but could not muster the courage to jump down and fly. He was scared. All his family members had left him and taunted him for his cowardice. In fact, they wanted him to take his first flight. He should have overcome his fear of flight by now.
Yes, I sympathise with the seagull. It is not an easy task to take the first leap. One has to be confident and bold. All are not equally brave. The young seagull was ready to jump but he needed some time. Ultimately, he mustered the courage and overcame his fear of flight.
No, sympathy does not always help. It makes a person dependent. We should not give a fish to a hungry man out of sympathy, we should teach him how to catch a fish for food.
If the young seagull had been provided food, he would never have learnt the art of flying. He would have become a crippled parasite on his family.

Question 4. Do you think the story ‘The Black Aeroplane’ is a mystery? Do you see some elements of supernatural power in the story? Do you believe in supernatural powers?
Answer: ‘The Black Aeroplane’ by Frederick Forsyth is undoubtedly a mystery.
The pilot of the old Dakota plane is trapped in black stormy clouds. Nothing is visible. All the instruments of his plane also stop functioning. Suddenly from nowhere a black aeroplane appears in the cloud. The pilot of the black aeroplane guides him. The plane has no lights on its wings but its pilot is still flying at ease. The first pilot arrives safely at the airport but when he goes to thank the pilot of the black plane, the woman in the control room even denies having seen any other aeroplane on the ‘radar’. This statement leaves the mystery of the pilot of the black aeroplane unfolded. However, there is no element of supernatural power in the story. There is no ghost or spirit in the plot. I don’t believe in supernatural elements like ghosts or spirits.

Question 5. Was it the imagination of the pilot of Dakota aeroplane or a supreme power which helped the first pilot in landing safely? Do you think that there is always a supreme power that helps us in adversity?
Answer: The pilot of the old Dakota aeroplane was caught in the black stormy clouds. Suddenly, a black aeroplane comes to his rescue. In the modern age of science and technology some people may reject the idea of a supreme power helping a person in crisis. It may be the imagination of the Dakota pilot. When in distress, he lost all hope. Maybe his own imagination guided him to go ahead and land safely.
I support this because the statement of the woman in the control room further confirms the non-existence of any black aeroplane on the radar. So there was neither any black aeroplane nor any pilot, it was purely the imagination of the Dakota pilot.
I personally feel the presence of supreme power in our own acts. At the time of adversity our own power helps us. We may call it supreme power or something else except supernatural power.