From Skydive Designer to FreeFallFilms, Rob Jonson has built some of skydiving’s smartest tools by doing what comes naturally: spotting a problem and finding a better way to solve it.
Rob Jonson didn’t set out to reinvent how skydivers plan formations or how dropzones deliver tandem videos – but his mix of technical curiosity, thoughtful design, and wholehearted immersion in the sport made the path almost inevitable.
“I’ve always been someone who sees a problem and thinks, ‘Well … I’ll just fix it,’” he says. “The skydiving world simply gave me more exciting problems to solve.”
From Marlow to Oxford: A Mind Built for Solutions
Rob grew up in Marlow, Buckinghamshire in the UK – “pretty nerdy, but always outdoors,” he says. When he wasn’t hiking or learning to scuba dive with Venture Scouts, he was indoors building LEGO gearboxes or coding on an Amstrad 464.
“Computing wasn’t really a degree option when I went to university, so I studied physics,” he laughs. He enjoyed the subject, but never planned a career in it. “It was the most interesting route to a stable job.”
But first, a bit of fun. While at university, Rob made a static-line jump with the Oxford Stunt Factory – a group descended from the famously eccentric Dangerous Sports Club. The experience lit a spark that set a path ablaze.
The First Great Adventure of Many
Before settling into corporate life, Rob decided to properly pursue skydiving. He called every dropzone in California, determined to stretch his signing bonus as far as possible, and committed to being Dave Crouch’s second-ever student at Skydive Taft.
With 26 jumps and only an altimeter, frap hat, and goggles to his name, he took a 57-hour bus ride to Quincy, Illinois for the World Freefall Convention. He made about 50 jumps on a borrowed rig, attended every party, and left vowing to return. “Completely wild,” he laughs. With Summer’s end came the call of real life. Rob returned to the UK and joined Capital One as a buttoned-up business analyst.
The Little Device That Changed Everything
Rob instantly loved the Palm Pilot: “A little thing in my pocket that would beep and tell me where to go. It revolutionized my timekeeping!” “It was helpful, but full of little annoyances,” he says. “And I knew I could fix them.”
He created a simple utility app called Butler and shared it online, earnestly typing “Hobbyist” when prompted for a company name. To his surprise, the app took off and became one of the Palm platform’s best-selling utilities.
Around this time, Rob and his wife decided to travel before she barreled into her own career. “I had an around-the-world ticket and my laptop, fully expecting to find another ‘proper job’ when we returned,” he says. Instead, the apps sold so well he discovered he didn’t need one. “That was the moment I realized this might actually be my job,” he says. “I hadn’t planned to run a company!” Rob continued independently releasing apps shaped by the ‘Zen of Palm’ philosophy: minimize taps, prioritize clarity, design with intention.
Photo by Norman Kent
“You Know What I Need …”
The idea for Skydive Designer began with a casual conversation in Abu Dhabi. As British skydiver Milko Hodgkinson stepped out of a 16-way tunnel debrief, he said to Rob, almost off-handedly, “You know what I need …?”
Milko wanted an app that would let him drag skydivers into formations on an iPad. Rob had been looking for a project to learn a new Apple programming system – and wanted to build something for a friend who had helped him tremendously in his skydiving journey.
“As I started to work on the project, I couldn’t stop thinking about how to fix the pain points. Once the symmetry engine worked, I knew it could be genuinely useful.” Milko tried it. Then shared it. Word spread. Coaches asked for it. Organizers adopted it. And today, it’s the standard formation-planning tool for belly flying worldwide.
“Another organizer had told me that Dan BC would have his trusty stampman ripped from his cold dead hands, so it was a proud moment when Dan told me he was getting an iPad to start using it,” Rob says. “It felt like a threshold had been crossed!”
To Be a Profit Center, Not a Cost Center
During another chat about inefficiencies that software might solve – this time in Ireland – the topic turned to tandem video. It’s often a dropzone’s biggest missed revenue opportunity. Not because the footage isn’t good, but because the process is too far removed from core business.
“I realized we could turn the whole thing into a reliable, automated sales engine for the dropzone,” Rob says.
He teamed up with fellow skydiver Jim Bradwell: “He’s brilliant at sales, operations, and customer management,” Rob says. “I would handle the tech and Jim would handle the rest.”
“I’d never done any ML before,” he admits. “But once the first model worked, I knew it was worth the months of refinement that followed.”
Today, about 60 dropzones use FreeFallFilms – about a third of them in North America. “Yes, we’re in some big-name DZs, but that’s not what it’s all about,” Rob shares. “The small DZs are just as exciting. We bring value to every DZ.”
FreeFallFilms dramatically simplifies editing, but its real power lies in helping DZs monetize their tandem product. By the time a student is out of the harness, their edited video is on screen – they see their life-changing experience unfold before their brain has even processed it. If they didn’t purchase video beforehand, they can buy any and all of it on the spot.
“Most DZs don’t realize how much revenue is sitting right there in their footage,” Rob says, “My goal is for it to be a profit center, not a cost center. If a DZ makes more money because of FreeFallFilms, that’s success.”
Be Available. Listen. Take Action.
“Software should make life easier, and service should be supportive,” Rob says.
FreeFallFilms is clean and intuitive, built with the awareness that tandem operations run at full tilt. Rob believes most support issues are really design issues – clues that the software isn’t doing enough of the work. Instead of adding explanation, he tweaks the experience so that the next person won’t hit the same snag: “If someone gets confused, the interface is in their way. Most questions are answered with a design fix.”
Of course, not everything is a quick adjustment. Rob is honest about what the software can’t do, just as he is fully committed to what it can. If he promises a feature, he builds it – even if it takes time.
“To provide good customer service is to be available, to listen, and to take action,” he shares. “You have to mean what you say.”
About Rob Johnson
Jumps: About 3,000
Licenses & Ratings: British Skydiving C-license; USPA D-license; former USPA Tandem Instructor & Coach
Primary Discipline: Bigway Belly
Achievements: Multiple CRW gold medals and big-way world records; active belly and big-way flyer
Favorite Event: No-Jumpsuit BFR, Skydive Chicago
Rob is the official unofficial ringmaster of the annual Summerfest No-Jumpsuit BFR: a playful, end-of-day, wear-whatever bigway that started back in the WFFC days.
Further info found at FreeFallFilms.
