Two Stories about Flying (Part II)
Black Aeroplane
Analysis :
·
The story ‘Black Aeroplane’ written
by Frederick Forsyth, an English author, is a mysterious story.
·
This story is about a young pilot who is
flying his aeroplane in the night from Paris to London with an earnest wish to
have English breakfast with his family.
·
It depicts a man’s judgement ability and
his strong belief and firm faith in his decision.
·
It is a mysterious story as the pilot of
the black aeroplane remains an unsolved mystery for the narrator. It talks about hallucinations that often appear to be real.
Synopsis / Summary
·
The narrator of the story is a young
pilot who is flying his aeroplane ‘Old Dakota’ over the sleeping France at night
to London.
·
He was very happy as he was thinking of
his holiday as quick as possible to have a good English breakfast with his
family.
·
When Paris was about 150 kilometres
behind him, he saw stormy clouds approaching his plane. It was a fierce storm
and clouds were like huge mountains. He didn’t have enough fuel to fly around
them. He thought to go back to Paris but he also wanted to have breakfast with
family.
·
The pilot mustered courage and decided
to take risk and steered through the stormy clouds. As he flew into dark
clouds, everything turned black.
·
He wasn’t able to see anything outside.
The plane jumped and twisted in the air. He wanted to know his way out so he
tried to contact the control centre through radio but in vain. All the control
systems of his plane had failed. The compass, radio and other equipments were
dead.
·
Then he saw another aeroplane. It was
black and its pilot signalled the narrator to follow him and moved towards
north. The narrator could see the lights flashing out of its wings and followed
it.
·
After half an hour the narrator came out
of storm saw the light. When he landed safely at the airport, he asked the lady
at the control centre who was another pilot flying black aeroplane. But, the
lady replied that there was no black aeroplane in the sky as his was the only
plane flying in the storm that night.
·
He wanted to meet the pilot to thank him.
However, he was happy to land safely at London.
Video on A Letter to God
Theme
Both the stories ‘His First Flight’ and Black
Aeroplane’ highlight the importance of self belief and confidence in one’s
decision. It acknowledges the need of courage and motivation in one’s life. It
also talks about mysteries of life which often remain unsolved and
hallucinations that often appear to be real. When a person desperately thinks about something he yearns for, his mind creates a picture of that thing and he considers it to be real.
Important
Question - Answers
Q1. Describe the narrator’s experience as he flew
the aeroplane into the storm.
Ans. As the narrator steered his aeroplane into the
storm, he could not see anything out of his plane as it was black all around. The
plane jumped and twisted in the air. He was scared as compass was broken. Radio
and other instruments had stopped working. It was a scaring experience as he
was moving ahead like a blind person without knowing looking onto the way and
knowing no directions. He was uncertain whether he would reach his destination.
He didn’t have enough fuel to return.
Q2. Why does the narrator say, I landed safely and
was not sorry to walk away from the Old Dakota?
Ans. When the narrator reached his destination
safely, he said that he was not sorry to walk away from Old Dakota. He was so
happy and excited to reach his home that all his fearful flight and scaring
experience didn’t bother him. Now, all his troubles and painful experience seem
to have disappeared as he has reached his home. If he had decided to go back,
he certainly would have been disappointed. Though he could not find the pilot
of the black aeroplane, the satisfaction of reaching safely is what matters
most.
Q3. Who do you think, helped the narrator to land
safely? Discuss.
Ans. Possibly, it was the narrator’s own self that
guided him through stormy clouds. His courage and belief in himself gave him
strength and he felt that some other pilot was there to help him. Actually he
must have prayed to God and his belief in his prayer was so strong that he
experienced hallucination and in hallucination he saw another pilot helping
him. In fact it was his own strong belief and firm faith in himself that gave him
courage to steer out of stormy clouds and land safely.
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