Based at Cessnock Airport, DreamSky Aviation was founded for the purpose of providing a full range of flying and aviation industry training to indigenous students.

DreamSky Aviation general manager David Coughtrie said the company intends to roll out the program across the country and train 100 students in its first 10 years.

“It is our intention to engage with Aboriginal communities with training provided under the Closing the Gap initiative,” he said.

“The outcome of our work will see Aboriginal men and women engaged in meaningful employment within the aviation industry, as pilots, aircrew and engineers.”

Graduates may choose to mentor future generations of Aboriginal pilots as instructors or provide air services to remote communities as employees of DreamSky Aviation.

The company has partnered with Kempsey-based Aboriginal training and employment service Real Futures, which identified its first two scholarship students.

Buen Jacobsen, 21, and Robert Wright, 27, made the move from the mid-north coast to the Hunter and started with DreamSky Aviation last month.

Both men were always interested in aviation but never thought they would have the opportunity to make a career out of it.

Mr Wright said it’s an honour to be part of the program and to be a “trailblazer” for indigenous people in the aviation industry.

Mr Jacobsen said the training has been exciting and challenging at the same time.

“You have such an appreciation of the aircraft and the aviation industry, once you know what they go through to get into the cockpit,” he said.

Both trainee pilots say they would like to eventually work for QANTAS, and also as instructors with DreamSky Aviation to help other indigenous people achieve their career goals.

“It will be good to give back,” Mr Jacobsen said.

Mr Coughtrie said the students are excelling in their training, and could be manning their first solo flights any day now.

“Pardon the pun, but the sky’s the limit for these guys,” he said.

“They could end up doing anything from aeromedical transfers into remote communities, to sitting on the flight deck of a 747 with a big kangaroo on the tail.”

And the latter could well be within their reach – research by Boeing has found the aviation industry will need more than half a million new pilots in the next 20 years (including 226,000 in the Asia-Pacific region) to meet the growing demand for air travel.