Two Stories About Flying Part-2 The Black Aeroplane

1.0About the Author

Frederick McCarthy Forsyth CBE (born on 25 August 1938) is an English novelist and journalist. He is best known for thrillers such as The Day of the Jackal, The Odessa File, The Fourth Protocol, The Dogs of War, The Devil's Alternative, The Fist of God, Icon, The Veteran, Avenger, The Afghan, The Cobra and The Kill List.

2.0Central Idea

The lesson 'Black Aeroplane' by Frederick Forsyth reflects on how one's judgement gets distorted due to fantasizing and how it creates problems. In this chapter, the narrator is a pilot who is so eager to meet his family and have a good breakfast that he takes the wrong decision of facing the storm instead of doing the right thing. Miraculously, he somehow manages to escape with the help of a mysterious aeroplane.

3.0The English Breakfast

It was night time when the sky was clear and the stars could be seen twinkling. The pilot felt peace in being above a country that had fallen asleep while he was flying over France to England. It was half-past one in the morning and he was fantasizing about holidaying with his family.

When the aeroplane was in France, the pilot thought of informing the Paris Control personnel about its presence and for instructions. At that time, lights from the Paris city were blaring at him. He informed the Control Agency to which they replied with further instruction on directions. The control room at Paris instructed him to turn 12 degrees towards the west.

After receiving the instructions, the pilot geared up and followed them while putting the last fuel tank into operation. All this time, he was dreaming about his time with his family and then, he started thinking about having a satisfactory breakfast at the destination point. He was calm as everything was going as planned. Now, the plane had crossed Paris when he started seeing clouds in the sky. The presence of clouds made it unsafe to travel by air because there were chances of a storm. They were so huge and dark that the pilot compared them with 'black mountains'. He knew he couldn't pass them as it was impossible to go above them or escape them with the amount of fuel that was left in the last tank. The right decision would have been to fly back to Paris safely. But the pilot's decision making was clouded by his wish to meet his family. He so desperately wanted to be with his family and have that English breakfast he had been dreaming of all day, that he took the risk of not going back. Thus, he headed the plane right into the storm.

It was so dark because of the storm that nothing was visible outside the plane. He started losing control of the aeroplane. The compass and other instruments had also stopped working because of the bad weather. He became helpless.

He tried calling the Paris Control Agency who had helped him earlier but couldn't connect because of the weather.

4.0Another Aeroplane

In the midst of nowhere, when everything failed, he saw a ray of hope when he saw another aeroplane. He felt relieved when he saw another pilot's face and willingness to help him escape the storm. He thought to himself that the other pilot was very kind as he knew that they were lost and was trying to help him.

After coming out of the clouds he saw a runaway, he was safe but the black aeroplane was gone. He was left astonished with a lot of questions unanswered in his mind.

5.0Let's Recall

• It is a mysterious story penned down by Frederick Forsyth.
• The pilot desires to be with his family and have the next morning's breakfast in London.
• As soon as he crosses Paris, he witnesses a group of black clouds.
• He decides to risk his life, as he is blinded by his desire.
• As soon as he enters the clouds, he loses the radio signal, and his compass also stops working.
• In the middle of the danger, he gets a look at another plane, the pilot of which signals him to follow.
• That pilot of black aeroplane helps him get access to the runway when Dakota's fuel tank was about to run out.
• He did not come to know who that pilot was in the black airplane without lights who helped him survive.