Two Stories about Flying · Class 10 English · First Flight: 60 flashcards
All 60 flashcards from this kit, free and with no sign-up.
1. Why was the young seagull alone on his ledge?
Show the answer
His two brothers and his sister had flown away the day before, and he had been too afraid to go with them.
2. What did he believe would happen if he tried to fly?
Show the answer
He felt certain that his wings would never support him above the great expanse of sea stretching miles below.
3. Whose wings were shorter than his, and why does it matter?
Show the answer
His little sister's — and she had already flown, which proves his problem was fear rather than weakness.
4. What did his parents threaten?
Show the answer
To let him starve on his ledge unless he flew away.
5. How long had he been alone when the story's main action begins?
Show the answer
Twenty-four hours; nobody had come near him since the others flew.
6. What had he watched his family doing the day before?
Show the answer
Perfecting his brothers and sister in the art of flight — skimming the waves and diving for fish.
7. What had his older brother caught, and how did the parents react?
Show the answer
His first herring, which he devoured on a rock while the parents circled around raising a proud cackle.
8. Where was the family taunting him from?
Show the answer
The big plateau midway down the opposite cliff, where they walked about mocking his cowardice.
9. What trick did the seagull try to get attention?
Show the answer
He stood on one leg with the other hidden under his wing, closed one eye then the other, and pretended to fall asleep.
10. What was his father doing while he pretended to sleep?
Show the answer
Preening the feathers on his white back — paying no attention at all.
11. What was his mother doing that maddened him?
Show the answer
Tearing at a piece of fish at her feet and scrapping each side of her beak on the rock.
12. How did his mother answer his first begging cry?
Show the answer
She screamed back derisively — mockingly, as if he were being stupid.
13. What exactly did his mother do when she reached him with the fish?
Show the answer
She halted just opposite him, her wings motionless, with the fish almost within reach of his beak.
14. What finally made the seagull leave the ledge?
Show the answer
Maddened by hunger, he dived at the piece of fish and fell outwards and downwards into space.
15. What did he feel in the instant after falling?
Show the answer
A monstrous terror seized him, his heart stood still and he could hear nothing — but it lasted only a moment.
16. How did he know he was flying?
Show the answer
His wings spread outwards, the air came driving against his chest and under his stomach, and he felt his wingtips cutting the air.
17. What replaced his fear once he was soaring?
Show the answer
Nothing more than a slight dizziness — he was no longer afraid, just a bit dizzy.
18. What did he forget once he was in the air?
Show the answer
That he had not always been able to fly.
19. What happened when he tried to stand on the green sea?
Show the answer
His legs sank, he screamed with fright and could not rise, until his belly touched the water and he floated.
20. How does the story end?
Show the answer
His family gather round him screaming and praising him, holding out scraps of dog-fish to him. And he had made his first flight.
21. What kind of aeroplane was the narrator flying, and where?
Show the answer
An old Dakota, flying over France on his way back to England.
22. What was the time when the narrator looked at his watch?
Show the answer
One thirty in the morning.
23. What was the weather like at the start of the flight?
Show the answer
The moon was rising in the east behind him, stars were shining, and there was not a cloud in the sky.
24. What was the narrator looking forward to?
Show the answer
His holiday, being with his family, and a good big English breakfast.
25. What call sign did the narrator use with Paris Control?
Show the answer
Dakota DS 088.
26. What instruction did Paris Control give him?
Show the answer
To turn twelve degrees west.
27. What did he do just before turning west?
Show the answer
He checked the map and the compass and switched over to his second and last fuel tank.
28. How far past Paris was he when he saw the storm clouds?
Show the answer
About 150 kilometres.
29. What did the storm clouds look like?
Show the answer
Huge black mountains standing in front of him across the sky.
30. Why could the narrator not avoid the storm?
Show the answer
He could not fly up and over the clouds, and he had too little fuel left to go round them either north or south.
31. What did the narrator know he ought to do, and what did he do instead?
Show the answer
He knew he ought to go back to Paris, but he wanted to get home and wanted his breakfast, so he took the risk and flew into the storm.
32. What happened to the compass inside the storm?
Show the answer
It turned round and round and round — it was dead and would not work.
33. Which other equipment failed?
Show the answer
The other instruments died too, and the radio gave no answer when he called Paris Control.
34. Describe the aeroplane that appeared beside him.
Show the answer
Another aeroplane quite near him in the black clouds, with no lights on its wings; he could see the pilot's face turned towards him.
35. How did the stranger communicate?
Show the answer
He lifted one hand and waved, signalling 'Follow me', then turned his aeroplane slowly to the north in front of the Dakota.
36. How does the narrator describe himself following the black aeroplane?
Show the answer
Gladly, and without a question — he followed it the way a trusting child follows an adult.
37. How much fuel was left after half an hour of following?
Show the answer
Enough for only five or ten minutes more of flying.
38. What did the narrator see when he came out of the clouds?
Show the answer
Two long straight lines of lights in front of him — a runway, an airport; he was safe.
39. What happened when he looked for the black aeroplane after landing?
Show the answer
The sky was empty; there was nothing there and he could not see it anywhere.
40. What did the woman in the control centre tell him?
Show the answer
That no other aeroplanes were flying that night, and his was the only one she could see on the radar.
41. Why are these two stories printed together?
Show the answer
Both are about flying and about fear, and the textbook sets them up as a pair — how the seagull conquers his fear, and who helps the lost pilot.
42. What kind of fear does the seagull have?
Show the answer
The fear of beginning — of attempting something he has never done, although his wings are the longest of the brood.
43. What kind of fear does the pilot have?
Show the answer
The fear of losing control of something he does for a living, once his compass, instruments and radio fail.
44. What causes the danger in each story?
Show the answer
In the first, inexperience; in the second, the narrator's own decision to fly into a storm he knew he should avoid.
45. How does the mother seagull help her son?
Show the answer
She brings a piece of fish and halts just opposite him with her wings motionless, leaving it almost within reach so that he must close the last distance himself.
46. How does the stranger help the pilot?
Show the answer
He appears beside him without lights, waves him on, flies ahead so following is easier, and leads him down to a runway.
47. What is the key difference between the two helpers' methods?
Show the answer
The mother withholds so that her son must act; the stranger supplies everything and asks nothing at all.
48. What is the key difference between the two helpers' identities?
Show the answer
The mother is entirely known to the reader; the other pilot is never identified and vanishes without explanation.
49. In both stories, when does fear end?
Show the answer
After the action has begun — the seagull's terror lasts one moment before his wings spread, and the pilot's fright passes as the runway lights appear.
50. How does His First Flight end?
Show the answer
The seagull floats on the sea while his family scream their praise and offer him scraps of dog-fish; he had made his first flight.
51. How does The Black Aeroplane end?
Show the answer
With two unanswered questions: who helped him to arrive safely, and who the pilot of the black aeroplane was.
52. Which story is told in the third person?
Show the answer
His First Flight — an outside narrator watches the bird and can see what the bird cannot.
53. Which story is told in the first person?
Show the answer
The Black Aeroplane — the pilot tells it himself, so the reader knows only what he knew at the time.
54. Give one detail only a third-person narrator could supply in the first story.
Show the answer
That his little sister's wings were far shorter than his own — the fact that proves his problem was fear, not weakness.
55. Why does first-person narration protect the mystery in the second story?
Show the answer
The narrator can only report what he knew, so the story can end without an answer and still feel truthful.
56. What image dominates the end of the first story?
Show the answer
A vast green sea with little ridges moving over it, so solid-looking that the seagull tries to stand on it.
57. What image dominates the middle of the second story?
Show the answer
Storm clouds like black mountains standing across the sky, which the pilot believes he cannot go over or around.
58. What do the two central figures have in common at the end of each story?
Show the answer
Each ends up following someone else — the seagull his family, the pilot the stranger — and each reaches a surface he had not expected.
59. Why is 'both stories are about courage' a weak answer?
Show the answer
Neither figure acts bravely at the decisive moment: the seagull dives at a fish out of hunger, and the pilot follows the stranger like an obedient child.
60. How should a comparison answer be structured?
Show the answer
By points of difference — fear, helper, ending — with a sentence on each story for every point, closing with what they share.
Your notes can be a kit like these
Every kit here was made from real study material. Point Veda at a chapter, a PDF, a photo or a link and get notes, flashcards, practice MCQs, games and a scored test — free, in 42 languages.
- Chapter notes
- Flashcards
- Practice MCQs
- Scored tests
- Exam prep
Get Veda free See what students get
Free to start · No ads · Works in 42 languages