Confused about acceleration direction

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I've got the following question:
-a plane has a force east of 2000N
-the plane's weight is 40000N.
-What is the acceleration?

Choices:
X m/s^2 east
X m/s^2 west
Y m/s^2 east
Y m/s^2 west

Shouldn't the acceleration of the plane be down and east? I mean the net force isn't just straight east, doesn't gravity matter here?
[The correct answer used the gravity force to find only the mass of the plane, nothing else]

 

[kalilza]

Without seeing the actual wording of the question, I can't say for sure, but here is what I have got:

Since the plane isn't actually changing position on the vertical plane (it is always staying at the same altitude), it can't have any acceleration vertically either.

 

[Arctangent]

If that is all that's in the wording of the question, then I would consider the "usual" state of a plane given that it has some horizontal force, which I would assume to be that the plane in midflight (so the altitude is constant).

In these cases, the altitude of the plane does not change, so there is some implied force that is counteracting the weight of the plane.

An comparable question would be to say that a box is being pushed across a frictionless floor with a horizontal force of 2000N, and the box has a weight of 40000N. It's implied that the box does not change its height, and its implied that in your question, assuming nothing else is said, that the plane does not change its altitude.