Aiding the gunner

In starship combat, can the captain use the 'aid another' form of the Encourage action to buff a gunner?

You can encourage another member of the crew to give her a bonus to her action. This works like aid another, granting a +2 bonus to the check required by a crew action if you succeed at a DC 10 check using the same skill.

My guess is they would make a check with their own BAB/piloting ranks + Dex modifier, but technically that's not a skill check.

Yes the Captain can aid the gunner using the same modifiers or encourage / intimidate with a higher DC.

Ok, thanks for confirming that for me.