Fasten your seatbelt: the world's only competing Chinese aerobatic pilot also flies jets for a Hong Kong airline

On September 22, Kenny Chiang posted a video on his official Facebook page with the message "RIP Francesco Fornabio. Fly high!" In the three-minute clip, the veteran Italian aerobatic pilot - described by one online commenter as a "poet of the sky" - flips, coils and nose-dives his yellow Breitling Extra 300 at speeds of up to 400km/h, a plume of celebratory smoke hissing in the aircraft's wake. It's a glorious montage of showmanship in a sport that has been described as the "Formula One of the air".

To the right of the same YouTube video is a link: "Fatal Crash of Francesco Fornabaio". In this clip, the Italian's Breitling Xtreme 3000 is seen plummeting 600 feet out of the sky, before the 57-year-old father of three crashes into San Nicolo beach, near Venice, in Italy.

"Yes, it's a dangerous sport," says Hong Kong-born Chiang, smoothing down his chinos and exhaling through his 24-year-old cheeks. He made history last month by flying in the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI) World Intermediate Aerobatic Championship, in Mossel Bay, South Africa, becoming the world's only Chinese aerobatic pilot competing in the sport at this level.

"Pretty much once a year," he says, a friend on the circuit dies. "The last one was four months ago. I'd been speaking to him quite a lot." At first, the deaths affected Chiang quite badly, "but then, it's sad to admit, you start getting numb".

"Whenever there is a tragedy, the first question I ask myself is, 'How did it happen?' and then, 'Is that going to be me next?'" he says.

Fornabaio had 2,700 aerobatic flying hours to his name, performed at about 25 air shows a year and was considered one of the best pilots in the sport. Can Chiang explain a crash like that? He begins to answer, and then thinks better of it.

"I think it's a completely different perspective once you're in the seat, getting thrown around. I don't want to be the judge."