With television cameramen hovering, Qualcomm chief executive Irwin Jacobs sat in the front row of coach and made one of the first legal cell phone calls from a commercial jetliner

With television cameramen hovering, Qualcomm chief executive Irwin Jacobs sat in the front row of coach and made one of the first legal cell phone calls from a commercial jetliner. After chatting with a telecom industry lobbyist for a few minutes, Jacobs pronounced the technology behind the airborne phone call a success, although adding that it will be improved over the next couple years. Jacobs and a group of reporters were aboard an American Airlines jetliner Thursday as it took off from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport for a demonstration of Qualcomm's cellular technology at 25,000 feet. The flight required special clearance from the Federal Aviation Administration and Federal Communications Commission, which ban the use of electronic devices abroad planes because of fear they would interfere with navigation systems and cellular networks on the ground. Reporters were given phones with code division multiple access, or CDMA technology, and a few minutes to make and receive calls. Qualcomm commercialized the CDMA technology used in wireless network equipment and licenses system software to cell phone makers.