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Download free comprehensive NCERT Solutions for Class 10 English First Flight Chapter 3: Two Stories about Flying. This chapter comprises two contrasting tales of flight and courage: Part I: His First Flight by Liam O’Flaherty and Part II: Black Aeroplane by Frederick Forsyth, along with two companion poems: How to Tell Wild Animals by Carolyn Wells and The Ball Poem by John Berryman. Below are complete, authoritative solutions for every textbook question, followed by official CBSE Board Examination questions with detailed marking rubrics.
1. Part I: His First Flight — Liam O’Flaherty (Textbook Solutions)
Thinking about the Text
Q1. 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?
Answer:
The young seagull was afraid to fly because his wings felt weak and unsupportive. Looking down from the high ledge, the vast expanse of the sea stretching miles beneath him appeared terrifying. He felt convinced that his wings would never carry his weight and that he would plunge into the ocean and drown.
Yes, fear of the unknown is natural to almost all living beings during their first attempt at an instinctual task. While some birds might show bolder temperament and take flight earlier, fear and hesitation are widespread. Similarly, a human baby faces a genuine physical and psychological challenge when taking its first independent steps. The baby wobbles, fears falling, and relies heavily on parental coaxing, applause, and outstretched hands before mastering balance.
Q2. “The sight of the food maddened him.” What does this suggest? What compelled the young seagull to finally fly?
Answer:
This suggests that the young seagull was desperately hungry, having gone without food for twenty-four hours under the scorching sun. Watching his mother tear off scraps of fish at the opposite rock intensified his craving to the point where hunger overpowered his paralyzing fear.
The mother seagull smartly flew towards him holding a piece of fish in her beak, but halted just out of reach across the ledge. Driven mad by extreme starvation, the young bird forgot his phobia and leaped forward into space to seize the food. As he dropped into the abyss, his wings instinctively spread outward, the wind rushed past his breast feathers, and his natural aerial instincts took control, turning his desperate plunge into sustained flight.
Q3. “They were beckoning to him, calling shrilly.” Why did the seagull’s father and mother threaten him and cajole him to fly?
Answer:
The parents knew that flying was indispensable for a seagull’s survival. Without learning to fly, he would never be able to catch fish, migrate, or survive independently in the wild. Gentle encouragement had failed, so his parents adopted tough love—scolding him, screeching shrilly, and threatening to let him starve on the ledge unless he flew away. Their harsh tactics were born out of parental responsibility and foresight, forcing him out of his comfort zone for his own survival.
2. Part II: Black Aeroplane — Frederick Forsyth (Textbook Solutions)
Thinking about the Text
Q1. “I’ll take the risk.” What is the risk? Why does the narrator take it?
Answer:
The risk was flying his old Dakota DS 088 aeroplane directly into huge, pitch-black storm clouds resembling black mountains standing across his path. He had neither enough fuel to fly north or south around them, nor instruments sophisticated enough for blind storm navigation.
The narrator took this extreme risk because he was homesick and eager to spend his holiday with his family in England. The tempting vision of a big English breakfast and warm reunion clouded his professional judgement, prompting him to plunge straight into the tempest rather than returning safely to Paris.
Q2. Describe the narrator’s experience as he flew the aeroplane into the storm.
Answer:
As soon as the narrator flew into the storm clouds, everything outside became instantaneously pitch black; nothing was visible. The old aeroplane jumped, twisted, and pitched violently in the turbulent air. When he looked at the instruments, the compass was spinning around wildly and dead. He switched to the radio to call Paris Control, but the radio was dead as well. Trapped in the storm with failing instruments and rapidly depleting fuel in his secondary tank, he was utterly lost and terrified until a mysterious black aircraft appeared beside him.
Q3. Why does the narrator say, “I landed and was not sorry to walk away from the old Dakota…”?
Answer:
The narrator had just endured a harrowing brush with death inside the storm where the Dakota’s compass, instruments, and radio failed completely, leaving only five to ten minutes of fuel left. Walking away from the machine was not an act of carelessness, but a sigh of overwhelming relief at having survived an impossible ordeal. He was eager to rush to the control tower to discover who his miraculous saviour was.
Q4. What made the woman in the control centre look at the narrator strangely?
Answer:
The woman looked at him strangely because his enquiry seemed absurd and impossible. The radar showed no other aircraft flying in the sky during the severe storm. She laughed and clarified that his old Dakota was the single aeroplane visible on the radar screen that night. Her bewilderment arose from the fact that no other pilot could have guided him down safely.
Q5. Who do you think helped the narrator to reach safely? Discuss this among yourselves and give reasons for your answer.
Answer:
From a rational psychological perspective, it was the narrator’s own subconscious mind, professional flying instincts, and unyielding will to survive that guided him through the crisis. Under extreme distress and sensory deprivation inside the pitch-black clouds, his mind projected an external guide—a mysterious black aircraft without lights—to instill calm, focus his piloting actions, and steer him down the glide slope. Alternatively, from a literary perspective, Forsyth intentionally leaves the story an unresolved supernatural mystery, embodying the miraculous grace that aids travellers at the brink of disaster.
3. Companion Poem: How to Tell Wild Animals — Carolyn Wells
Q1. How does the poet suggest that you identify the Asian Lion and the Bengal Tiger? When can you do so?
Answer:
The poet uses dark humor to distinguish the two apex predators:
- Asian Lion: A large, tawny (brownish-yellow) beast found in the eastern jungles. He roars so terrifyingly that you die of fright as he approaches.
- Bengal Tiger: A noble wild beast with distinctive black stripes on a bright yellow coat. You identify him only at the very moment he eats you!
The humor lies in the fact that identification is posthumous—by the time you recognize either beast, it is already too late to escape.
Q2. How does the poet differentiate between a Hyena and a Crocodile?
Answer:
The poet differentiates between them through their popular behavioral expressions: a hyena always approaches with merry smiles and grinning facial gestures, whereas a crocodile sheds deceptive tears (“crocodile tears”) while consuming its victim.
4. Companion Poem: The Ball Poem — John Berryman
Q1. Why does the poet say, “I would not intrude on him”? Why doesn’t he offer him money to buy another ball?
Answer:
The poet refuses to intrude because the boy is undergoing an essential rite of passage—grief and contemplation. Giving him money to purchase another ball would trivialize his genuine psychological loss. A new ball costing a dime is materially worthless and cannot restore the sentimental memories and childhood innocent years that sank into the harbour along with that particular ball.
Q2. What does “in the world of possessions” mean? What is the boy learning?
Answer:
“In the world of possessions” signifies a materialistic world where human life revolves around owning, acquiring, and claiming property, objects, and relationships. In such a society, things will inevitably be lost, broken, or taken away.
The boy is learning the “epistemology of loss”—understanding the painful nature of grief and acquiring the resilience to stand up, cope with emotional heartbreak, and move forward despite irreplaceable loss.
5. CBSE Solved Board Examination Questions (2015–2026)
Q. “Fear is a reaction. Courage is a decision.” Justify this statement with reference to the young seagull’s first flight.
Answer: The young seagull was paralyzed by an instinctive reaction of fear, dreading that the sea would swallow him. However, when driven by hunger to dive for the fish, he conquered his inhibition. By spreading his wings into the wind, he made the decision to trust his innate capability, demonstrating that courage is not the absence of fear, but triumphing over it.
Q. Compare the nature of courage shown by the young seagull in “His First Flight” with that of the narrator in “The Black Aeroplane”. Who showed calculated courage, and who acted out of desperation?
Answer: Both protagonists conquer perilous situations, but their courage stems from different motives. The young seagull acted out of utter desperation; starved for 24 hours, he dove for food without realizing he was taking the leap until his wings took air. His bravery was an instinctive awakening of survival skills.
Conversely, the narrator of the Black Aeroplane showed reckless courage borderlining on negligence—choosing to endanger his life rather than delay an English breakfast. However, inside the storm, his courage transformed into calm perseverance, trusting the mysterious black plane and methodically nursing his failing Dakota onto the runway.
Q. How does John Berryman in “The Ball Poem” portray the harsh truth of human life? Elucidate how the loss of a simple toy teaches a child the foundation of maturity.
Answer: In “The Ball Poem”, Berryman uses the lost ball as a metaphor for childhood innocence, fleeting youth, and precious possessions. The harsh reality of existence is that loss is inevitable; in a world driven by possession and material ownership, money is external and cannot purchase memories or reclaim what is lost.
The boy’s silent grief, trembling hands, and staring eyes signify the painful birth of self-awareness. By wrestling with grief alone without adult interference or cheap replacements, the boy internalizes the epistemology of loss. He learns that survival in life depends not on avoiding loss, but on acquiring the emotional strength to endure hardship, accept reality, and continue moving forward.