Two Stories About Flying — study notes

Read the stories themselves in your textbook, First Flight (NCERT). This lesson is SOYL's explanation and analysis; it does not reproduce the text.

The chapter has two short stories about flying.

Part I, His First Flight, is by Liam O'Flaherty (1896–1984), an Irish novelist and short-story writer from the Aran Islands who wrote in English and in Irish, known for The Informer (1925) and for stories about animals and nature. It is told by a third-person narrator.

Part II, The Black Aeroplane, is by Frederick Forsyth (1938–2025), an English novelist and former journalist who trained as a pilot in the Royal Air Force, best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal (1971). It is told in the first person by a pilot.

Alone and afraid. A young seagull is alone on his ledge. His two brothers and his sister flew the day before; even his sister, with shorter wings, managed it. The drop to the sea frightened him and he was sure his wings would fail. His parents scolded him and threatened to let him starve.

Hunger and mockery. For a day nobody comes near him. He watches his family train over the water and his elder brother eat his first herring; the family mocks him. He has not eaten since the previous evening. He pretends to fall asleep, but only his mother watches.

The fish and the fall. He begs for food. His mother flies towards him with a piece of fish but stops just beyond his reach. Desperate with hunger, he dives at it, falls, is terrified for a moment, and then his wings spread and he flies.

The sea. He flies with his family, then tries to stand on the sea and panics when his legs sink. Too tired to rise, he finds he floats. His family praises him and feeds him.

• Fear and self-doubt: he can fly but believes he cannot.
• Confidence through action: one leap turns terror into joy.
• Need as a teacher: hunger succeeds where scolding fails.
• Family and tough love: they push and mock, then praise and feed him.
• Growing up: a fledgling becomes independent.

The young seagull: timid, lonely, attention-seeking, driven by need, then quickly confident. His mother: harsh but wise; her fish ends his fear. The family: mocking but supportive once he flies.

Message: fear often exaggerates difficulty; the ability may already be there, waiting for one brave step.

A risky choice. The narrator flies his old Dakota from France to England at night, happily thinking of his holiday and breakfast with his family. He sees huge storm clouds; he cannot go above them or round them. The safe choice is to return to Paris, but he wants to get home and flies into the storm.

Lost. Inside, everything is dark. His compass and other instruments fail and the radio cannot reach Paris Control. His fuel is low.

The guide. A black aeroplane with no lights on its wings appears beside him; its pilot signals him to follow. It leads him down until he sees runway lights. He lands safely; the black aeroplane has vanished.

The mystery. A woman in the control centre tells him no other aeroplane was flying that night; only his was on the radar. Who helped him remains unanswered.

• Risk and consequences: impatience leads him into danger.
• Mystery and the unexplained: the black aeroplane is never explained.
• Help in danger: rescue comes from an unexpected source.
• Humility: an expert learns he cannot always save himself.

The pilot: cheerful and family-loving; impatient and risk-taking; experienced but fallible; trusting when helpless; puzzled at the end.

Explanations readers offer: a ghost or guardian angel; the pilot's imagination under stress; luck. The open ending makes any reasoned view acceptable.

Similar: both are about flying, fear and help; both fliers face terror and end safely.

Different: the seagull is a beginner, the pilot an expert; the seagull's problem is inner fear, the pilot's an outer danger he chose; the seagull's helper (his mother) is known and natural, the pilot's is a mystery; the seagull needs courage, the pilot needs rescue and humility; third-person narration versus first-person narration; a joyful ending versus an unsolved one.

Part I: animals given human feelings; sound words for the birds' cries; contrast between a slow day of fear and a quick moment of flight; gentle humour at the end.

Part II: first-person narration; short, plain sentences in the storm; suspense; an open ending.

SOYL practice sentences (not from the stories): The kettle hissed and spluttered on the stove (onomatopoeia); The lights went out. The lift stopped. Nobody spoke. (short sentences for tension).

Extract-based (5 marks): the board prints a passage from a story; SOYL practice uses commentary passages instead. Answer from the passage, then from your knowledge of the story.

Short answers (3 marks, 40–50 words): point + incident + explanation.

Long answers (6 marks, 100–120 words): a clear stand; three points with incidents in your own words; a link to a theme; a conclusion. For comparisons: the shared idea, one incident from each story, the key difference, a conclusion. Extrapolation tasks (the seagull's diary, the pilot's letter) must stay consistent with the story.

Practise with the real textbook passages from First Flight.