Jet Returns Safely

BOSTON--An Air Canada DC-9 jetliner with 42 persons on board lost a four-foot chunk of fuselage over the North Atlantic yesterday, but the aircraft made a safe emergency landing at Logan Airport.

"All of a sudden it felt like the windows had blown in--people started screaming and food was flying around," one passenger said.

The plane was en route to Halifax, Nova Scotia.

As soon as the tail cone ripped away, the airliner lost cabin pressure rapidly. Oxygen masks popped down from overhead racks immediately, and the pilot nosed the craft down to an altitude where decompression would not injure the passengers.

A stewardess received the only injury, a slight cut. Her condition was reported stable yesterday.

"It sounded like a bomb--you could see the sky," another passenger said.

Air Canada refused to comment on what caused the tail to fall off. The airline said it offered passengers seats on later planes.