Black Aeroplane – NCERT Solutions

Q. ‘‘I’ll take the risk.’’ What is the risk? Why does the narrator take it?

Ans. The narrator was flying to England. But suddenly there were dark clouds in the sky. He did not have enough fuel in his plane. He could not go back to Paris. So he took the risk of flying his Dakota into the stormy clouds. He did this because he wanted to get home and have a good breakfast with his family.

Q. Describe the narrator’s experience as he flew the aeroplane into the storm.

Ans. The narrator was eager to go home. So he took the risk of flying his Dakota into the storm. Inside the clouds, everything was suddenly black. It was impossible to see anything outside the aeroplane. The old aeroplane jumped and twisted in the air. He looked at the compass. He couldn’t believe his eyes. The compass was turning round and round. It was dead. It would not work. The other instruments were suddenly dead, too. He tried the radio. The radio was dead too. He had no radio, no compass, and he could not see where he was. He was lost in the storm.

Q. Why does the narrator say, ‘‘I landed and was not sorry to walk away from the old Dakota’’?

Ans. The narrator took the risk of flying into the dark clouds. When there was a storm in the sky he didn’t have enough fuel to fly around the clouds. All the instruments of his plane had failed. It was difficult for him to land safely. However,the pilot of a strange black aeroplane guided him to the airport and the narrator was able to land safely. Thus his life was saved and he was not sorry to walk away from the old Dakota. He wanted to forget about this dangerous journey.

Q. What made the woman in the control centre look at the narrator strangely?

Ans. The narrator had been helped by the pilot of a black aeroplane to land safely. He wanted to thank him for helping him. But he couldn’t see the plane or the pilot anywhere. He was greatly surprised at this. So he went to the woman in the control tower and asked her about the other aeroplane. She looked at him strangely and told him that no other aeroplanes were flying that night because of the storm. Dakota was the only aeroplane she could see on the radar.

Q. Who do you think helped the narrator to reach safely? Discuss this among yourselves and give reasons for your answer.

Ans. It is, indeed, difficult to answer the question as to who helped the narrator to reach safely to the black aeroplane. The black aeroplane had no light on its wings. The pilot of the Dakota heard the pilot of the strange aeroplane asking him to follow him. How did the pilot of this aeroplane know that the pilot of the Dakota want to go to England? After about half an hour the first pilot was able to come out of the clouds and land safely. The pilot of the black aeroplane disappeared into thin air. But, according to the lady in the control tower, there was no other aeroplane in the sky at that time. So no definite explanation can be given for this mystery. It is quite possible that the pilot of the Dakota might be in a state of hallucination at that time.

Q. Try to guess the meanings of the word ‘black’ in the sentences given below. Check the meanings in the dictionary and find out whether you have guessed right.

  1. Go and have a bath; your hands and face are absolutely black. ______________
  2. The taxi-driver gave Ratan a black look as he crossed the road when the traffic light was green. ______________
  3. The bombardment of Hiroshima is one of the blackest crimes against humanity. ______________
  4. Very few people enjoy Harold Pinter’s black comedy. ______________
  5. Sometimes shopkeepers store essential goods to create false scarcity and then sell these in black. ______________
  6. Villagers had beaten the criminal black and blue. ______________

Answer

  1. Covered with dirt
  2. angry
  3. Worst, the most wicked
  4. tragic
  5. unrecorded transactions
  6. severe beatings

Q. Match the phrases given under Column A with their meanings given under Column B:

A B
Fly a flag (a) Move quickly/suddenly
2. Fly into rage (b) Be successful
3. Fly along (c) Display a flag on a long pole
4. Fly high (d) Escape from a place
5. Fly the coop (e) Become suddenly very angry

Answer

A B
1. Fly a flag (c) Display a flag on a long pole
2. Fly into rage (e) Become suddenly very angry
3. Fly along (a) Move quickly/suddenly
4. Fly high (b) Be successful
5. Fly the coop (d) Escape from a place

Q. We know that the word ‘fly’ (of birds/insects) means to move through air using wings. Tick the words which have the same or nearly the same meaning.

swoop, flit, paddle, flutter, ascend, float, ride, skim, sink, dart, hover, glide, descend, soar, shoot, spring, stay, fall, sail, flap

Ans. swoop, descend, float, dart, soar, hover, sail, flutter, skim, glide, spring, flap

Q. Have you ever been alone or away from home during a thunderstorm? Narrate your experience in a paragraph.

Ans. Caught in Thunderstorm

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