The Black Aeroplane

Extract based Questions

Read the following extracts carefully and answer the questions that follow.

Q1.

The moon was coming up in the east, behind me, and stars were shining in the

clear sky above me. There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. I was happy to be alone high

up above the sleeping countryside. I was flying my old Dakota aeroplane over

France back to England. I was dreaming of my holiday and looking forward to

being with my family. I looked at my watch at one thirty in the morning. I should

call Paris Control soon. I thought. As 1 looked down past the nose of the

aeroplane, I saw the lights of a big city in front of me.

(a) How was the weather when the pilot started flying his aeroplane? (b)

Why was the pilot flying his old Dakota aeroplane over France back to

England?

(c) Find out the word similar in the meaning to ‘hoping with pleasure’.

(d) Choose from the passage the word which means ‘land outside towns or cities’.

Ans:

(a) When the pilot started flying his aeroplane, it was a clear weather as the moon

was up in the east, stars were shining and there wasn’t any cloud in the sky. (b)

The pilot was flying his old Dakota aeroplane over France back to England

because he wanted to enjoy his holiday and morning breakfast with his family.

(c) Looking forward to.

(d) The word is countryside.

Q2.

Paris was about 150 kilometres behind me when I saw the clouds. Storm clouds.

They were huge. They looked like black mountains ‘standing in front of me across
the sky-1 knew I could not fly up and over them, and I did not have enough fuel to

fly around them to the north or south. CBSE 2016

(a) What happened when the pilot was about 150 kilometres away from Paris?

(b) What does the author compare the clouds to?

(c) Find out the word similar in meaning as sufficient.

(d) The word ‘elephantine’ is similar in meaning to the word ………

Ans:

(a) The pilot saw storm clouds when he was about 150 kilometres away from

Paris.

(b) The author compares the clouds to Black Mountain.

(c) The word is ‘enough’.

(d) The word is ‘huge’.

Q3.

“He knows that I am lost”, I thought ‘He’s trying to help me.

He turned his aeroplane slowly to the north, in front of my Dakota, so that it would

be easier for me to follow him. I was very happy to go behind the strange

aeroplane like an obedient child.

After half an hour the strange black aeroplane was still there in front of me in the

clouds. Now, there was only enough fuel in the old Dakota’s last tank to fly for

five or ten minutes more. I was starting to feel frightened again. But then he started

to go down and I followed through the storm.

(a) Why was the pilot happy to find his aeroplane

behind another aeroplane in the black clouds?

(b) Why was the pilot frightened again? (c) Find the

opposite of ‘insufficient’ from the passage.

(d) What does a ‘storm’ mean?

Ans:

(a) The pilot was happy to find his aeroplane behind another aeroplane in the black

clouds because another pilot was helping him come out of the storm clouds. (b)
The pilot felt frightened again because the fuel was not sufficient to reach the

destination as it was only enough for next five or ten minutes.

(c) Enough.

(d) A storm is a very bad weather with strong winds and rain, thunder and

lightning.

Q4.

I landed and was not sorry to walk away from the old Dakota near the control

tower. I went and asked a woman in the control centre where I was and who the

other pilot was. ‘I wanted to say ‘Thank you’. She looked at me very strangely,

and then laughed.

‘Another aeroplane? Up there in this storm? No other aeroplanes were flying

tonight. ‘Yours was the only one I could see on the radar.”

So who helped me to arrive there safely without a compass or a radio, and without

any more fuel in my tanks? Who was the pilot on the strange black aeroplane,

flying in the storm, without lights? CBSE 2016

(a) Why did the writer go to the Control center immediately?

(b) Why was the writer shocked after hearing the woman’s word?

(c) Find out the word in the passage that means the same as ‘peculiar’.

(d) Which part of speech does the word ‘tonight’ belong to? Ans:

(a) The writer went to the Control center to ask about the black aeroplane so he

could thank the pilot for saving his life.

(b) The writer was shocked after hearing the woman’s word because she told

him that there was no other aeroplane flying that night as she had seen on the

radar. (c) Strange.

(d) ‘Tonight’ is an adverb. Short

Answers (2 marks)

Q1.

Describe author’s feeling while he was flying his aeroplane back to England? Ans:

The author was very excited while he was flying his aeroplane back to England
because he wanted to spend his holiday with his family at home.

Q2.

How much fuel was there in the aeroplane when the writer started flying?

Ans:

There was sufficient fuel in the tanks of the aeroplane to reach England safely

when the writer started flying.

Q3.

What risk did the writer take while flying? Why?

Ans:

The writer decided to take risk to fly through the storm clouds because he wanted

to enjoy his holiday with his family back in England.

Q4.

What did the writer feel inside the clouds?

Ans:

When the writer entered the clouds, it became impossible to see outside the

aeroplane. The aeroplane jumped and twisted in the air and all the instruments like

compass etc stopped working due to the weather conditions.

Q5.

What did the writer see inside the black clouds?

Ans:

The writer saw a black aeroplane which had no lights on its wings. The writer

could see the face of the pilot in the black clouds who was waving and signalling

him to follow to get out of the storm.

Q6.

Why did the writer follow the pilot of another aeroplane? [CBSE 2016] Ans:

The writer followed another aeroplane because he had lost the way in the storm

and was unable to see anything. The pilot of another aeroplane was helping him to

get out of the storm and land safely.

Q7.
Why did the woman in control room get shocked when the writer asked about

another aeroplane?

Ans:

The woman in the control room was shocked when the writer asked about another

aeroplane because there was no such plane flying in the sky that night as she saw

on the radar.

Q8.

Why did the writer want to meet the pilot of another black aeroplane?

Ans:

The writer wanted to meet the pilot of another black aeroplane to thank him as he

had saved the life of the writer by helping him come out from in the storm.

Long Answers (5 Marks)

Q1.

How did the writer get out of the storm in the night to land safely? [CBSE 2016]

Ans:

The writer was flying his old Dakota aeroplane when he saw the black clouds. He

was lost in the storm. Suddenly, he saw a black aeroplane by his side, which had

no lights, on its wings.

The pilot instructed the writer to follow as he had lost the way. He obeyed him like

a child. He was very happy to follow him. After some time the pilot of another

plane started to land. The writer followed him blindly through the storm and came

out of the clouds. He saw the lights of the runway and landed safely.

Q2.

Why was the writer happy when he decided to fly in the night?

Ans:

The writer was very happy when he decided to fly that night because he was going

home to his family to enjoy his holiday. When he started, everything seemed to be

perfect. The sky was clear, no clouds could be seen and the stars were shining. It

all made it an easy task for the writer to fly that night over the sleeping countryside
of Paris. His assumption of everything being in place made him happy.

Q3.

The pilot wanted to thank another pilot after his safe landing. Why? What values of

the writer are reflected from his action?

Ans:

The pilot (writer) of the old Dakota was caught in the storm. He lost his contact

with the control room. In this troubling situation, his fuel tank was also empty. He

lost all his hopes but suddenly a black strange plane appeared. The pilot of the

black place asked writer to follow him. The writer landed safely. After his safe

landing, he wanted to thank the pilot of the black plane. This shows his gratitude

towards the pilot of the Black Plane. He was thankful to him for saving his life. It

shows that the pilot of Dakota had a value of gratefulness in his character.

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