By Garth Calitz

Like many leading aerobatic pilots, Neville Ferreira was raised in an aviation family. His father worked as a charter pilot, which meant Neville spent much of his childhood at an airfield.

Numerous individuals anticipated that Neville would pursue a career as a commercial pilot like his father, but he chose to enter the business world and only took up flying later on.

I was able to meet with Neville during breaks between his practices at Kitty Hawk Airfield, where he is stationed and is currently getting ready for the World Championships.

Once Neville began flying, he immediately pursued aerobatics. His first genuine aerobatic aircraft was a Yak 52, which he obtained in 2005, a year after commencing his aerobatic training. He entered his first competition in 2010 with his reliable Yak 52.

By this point, Neville was fully captivated, and his competitive spirit drove him to dedicate numerous hours to practice. In 2011, he transitioned from a nose wheel to a tail wheel by purchasing a Yak 55, which enabled him to participate in various local aerobatic competitions, rapidly advancing through the ranks.

In 2012, Neville participated in the Yak52 World Championship and achieved a fourteenth place overall, which was impressive given his less than two years of aerobatic competition experience and the fact that he was flying a borrowed aircraft.

In 2014, the Intermediate World Championships took place in Mosel Bay, where Neville competed and secured a commendable third place overall in his brand new Slick 540, the same aircraft he continues to use today and will compete with in the Worlds.

Besides participating in aerobatics competitions at the highest level, Neville is also a highly regarded airshow display pilot, though the two disciplines are quite distinct.

Competition Aerobatics takes place within an "aerobatic box," where a panel of judges evaluates the contestant's performance based on the flight sequence provided to them. The competition can include up to four flights per pilot and spans a week during the World Championships.

In display flying, the pilot has the liberty to design their own display sequence without any judges to critique or evaluate it. The purpose of the display sequence is to excite the audience and demonstrate the abilities of both the aircraft and the pilot. As one advances in competition aerobatics, their privileges in display flying also expand. Initially, a display rating might require aerobatics to be performed at a minimum altitude of 500 feet. Currently, Neville's Display Rating permits him to perform full aerobatics down to 50 feet.

Neville has accumulated over 1,500 hours of total flight time, with at least 600 hours dedicated to aerobatics. He believes that the discipline required in competition aerobatics translates into airshow performances, enhancing pilot safety and skill, which is crucial when enduring G forces of 12 G positive and 10 G negative continuously during a 4 to 6-minute display. Neville aims to maneuver his Slick 540 in unconventional ways during gyroscopic maneuvers where standard aerodynamic principles are not applicable.

Neville, best of luck with the upcoming World Championships. We wish you all the best.