Who invented the surfing aerial?

Answer 1

From Surfline.Com: No one holds the claim as the first surfer to "float" a section, but as early as 1982, Santa Barbara surfer Davey Smith was pushing the limits on what you could do on a waist-high closeout. "There's a lot of small beachbreaks in my area," says Smith, "so at the time, I was always trying to find ways to ride different parts of the wave. The back seemed like the next logical step.

Answer 2

Christian Fletcher was one of them.