[00:03.88]This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English. [00:08.14]Next week is the one hundredth anniversary [00:12.12]of the Paris Air Show, [00:14.02]the biggest in the world. [00:16.20]It takes place every two years, [00:19.49]and organizers say [00:21.63]even with the economic downturn [00:24.11]they expect a "full house." [00:26.70]Airbus,Boeing and other manufacturers [00:31.14]will be there to sell aircraft. [00:33.53]But observers are not expecting [00:36.59]any major signs of a recovery [00:39.19]for the airline industry. [00:41.18]Industry leaders, [00:43.68]meeting this week in Malaysia, [00:45.79]were told that their industry [00:47.95]faces its most difficult situation ever. [00:51.68]Airlines are worried [00:54.47]not just about the recession [00:56.30]but also about higher oil prices. [00:59.87]And now comes the new H1N1 flu virus. [01:05.15]The World Health Organization [01:08.00]this week declared the first pandemic, [01:11.10]or worldwide spread, [01:13.23]of influenza in forty-one years. [01:16.99]But countries are being urged [01:19.77]not to restrict travel. [01:21.82]The air show also follows the crash last week [01:26.80]of an Air France jet [01:28.74]in the Atlantic Ocean off Brazil. [01:31.51]All two hundred twenty-eight people [01:34.65]on the flight from Rio de Janeiro [01:37.26]to Paris were killed. [01:39.14]Before the flight went down, [01:42.30]sensors gave conflicting information [01:45.46]on air speed to the plane's computers, [01:48.45]possibly because of ice. [01:50.79]Such problems had led Air France [01:54.75]to begin replacing older sensors [01:57.55]on some of its Airbus planes, [02:00.37]but not the one that crashed. [02:02.56]Air France is now moving quickly [02:05.98]to put in newer versions of the speed sensors. [02:09.51]But the cause of the crash [02:11.63]is still under investigation. [02:13.91]Bodies and wreckage have been found [02:17.68]over a wide area. [02:19.39]The plane hit storms before the crash. [02:22.91]Incorrect air speed readings [02:26.23]could have led the pilots to fly so fast [02:29.75]that the plane broke apart. [02:31.86]Wrong data can also cause pilots [02:35.87]to fly too slow and lose lift. [02:39.29]In the United States, [02:42.12]officials are investigating [02:44.25]a different safety issue [02:46.30]the safety of regional airlines. [02:49.26]These smaller carriers now operate [02:52.82]about half the airline flights [02:55.32]within the United States. [02:57.11]They carry one in four passengers. [03:00.53]They have grown as major airlines [03:04.69]have cut or changed their service. [03:07.44]In fact, [03:09.28]the big airlines often save money [03:12.11]by using smaller ones to carry passengers. [03:15.94]The pilots are paid less, [03:18.94]and there are questions [03:20.92]about whether they get enough training or rest. [03:24.67]The Federal Aviation Administration [03:28.04]plans an industry safety meeting next week. [03:31.50]And new legislation could be coming. [03:34.64]Congress is holding hearings into a crash [03:38.96]in February near Buffalo,New York. [03:42.24]The flight was operated [03:44.77]for Continental Airlines [03:46.87]by another company,Colgan Air. [03:49.82]Fifty people died. [03:52.26]Deadly airline crashes are increasingly rare. [03:56.85]But regional carriers have had four [04:00.09]in the last five years, [04:02.30]while major airlines have had one. [04:05.57]Transportation safety investigators [04:09.79]held hearings this week into an accident [04:12.78]that involved a major airline. [04:15.21]Everyone survived the water landing [04:19.06]of a US Airways jet [04:21.37]on the Hudson River in New York in January. [04:24.91]Birds disabled both engines. [04:28.44]At the hearings, [04:30.34]one of the subjects discussed [04:32.54]was the increase in populations of large birds [04:36.25]in North America [04:37.48]that could threaten other planes. [04:40.19]And that's IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English, [04:45.26]written by Brianna Blake. [04:47.42]I'm Mario Ritter.