Yellowknife (Aug 02/06) - A bursary program is going to go a long way to help Derek Kocik earn his wings.

He was one of five current and future aviation students from Yellowknife to receive a $5,000 Aviation Career Development Program bursary.

"I love flying," he said.

"The bursary program is a great thing. It will help offset a number of hours of flying."

He will begin his fourth year of a Bachelor of Science in aeronautics at the University of North Dakota this fall.

Kocik said he has always known what he wanted to do for a living. "Ask any of my teachers, I always wanted to be a pilot."

Kocik hopes to become a commercial pilot and return to the North. The $40,000 Aviation Career Development Program is funded by the Department of Transportation and Canadian North.

The Northern Air Transport Association, which represents Northern air carriers, also supports the program.

A luncheon and ceremony for the bursary recipients was held at Adlair Aviation in Yellowknife last week.

Students from Yellowknife receiving bursaries include: Kocik, Stacy Reid, Kyle Wheaton, Jonathan Bembridge, Omar Ashley and Ryan Chenkie. Lanita Thrasher of Paulatuk and Paul Sullivan of Inuvik also received bursaries.

The program is aimed to train qualified aviation professionals from the North, said Canadian North president Tom Ruth.

"If you're aspiring to do an aviation job in the future, there's no better place than in the North," he said. "It's such a dynamic industry and we need a lot of dynamic youth to promote industry in the North."

Adlair Aviation will join as a partner for the 2007 bursary program with a $5,000 contribution. The Department of Transportation will match the contribution, which will bring the total number of bursaries to 10 for next year.

The program has run since 2001 and provided students with a total of $240,000 in funding since its inception.