Cellphones May Find a Place in Flight Plan

Making one of the first legal in-flight cellphone calls, Qualcomm Inc. Chief Executive Irwin Mark Jacobs sat in the front row of coach and chatted with a telecom lobbyist from 25,000 feet.

Jacobs and a group of reporters were aboard an American Airlines jetliner Thursday that flew out of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for a demonstration of Qualcomm’s in-flight cellular technology.

The flight required special clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration and the Federal Communications Commission. The FAA and the airlines ban in-flight cell calls for fear that the signals could interfere with navigational equipment; the FCC is worried about them disrupting cellular networks on the ground.

Reporters were handed cellphones equipped with code division multiple access technology and given a few minutes to make and receive calls. San Diego-based Qualcomm commercialized CDMA, the dominant U.S. wireless calling standard.

Connections from the plane were generally good, although some calls were dropped. Sound quality was about the same as with a cell call on the ground -- other than the loud background noise on the MD-80 jetliner.

There was a delay of about one second in voice communications, like that encountered on a satellite phone, which interfered with natural conversation. The delay was caused by technology that digitally transmits voice in data packets between the jetliner and the ground.

In addition, callers could not hear the phone ringing on the receiving end, which caused at least one reporter to hang up while the person on the other end was shouting into the receiver.

Monte Ford, the top technology executive for AMR Corp.’s American, said he called his wife, his secretary and friends in Paris and Madrid. He said domestic connections were better than international.

Jacobs said Qualcomm would spend the next two years testing whether cellphone signals interfere with jetliner avionics systems. He said improvements in the technology would include shortening the one-second delay.

Eventually, air travelers should be able to make calls and download movies using wireless devices aboard jetliners, he said.

A nonprofit aeronautics advisory group, RTCA Inc., is working on guidelines for testing wireless devices aloft. The group, formerly the Radio Technical Commission for Aeronautics, did not immediately return calls for comment.

The cost of outfitting jetliners for in-flight cell calls would be minimal, Ford said, but he would not rule out the possibility that the airline would charge passengers extra for the calls.

American has ripped seat-back phones -- which use FAA-approved technology that does not interfere with jet navigation systems -- out of most of its aircraft.

Passengers have found the phones inconvenient, Ford said, noting that they prefer to wait to get on the ground to use their cellphones. Cost is another factor, as airlines generally charge about $4 a minute plus a $4 access charge.

Even before Thursday it was widely known that cellphones will sometimes work on jetliners. Notably, on Sept. 11, 2001, several passengers aboard hijacked airliners were able to call loved ones or authorities to report the terrorist takeovers.