From the comfort of his couch, Arthur DiStasi remembers his seven decades in the cockpit. “I should have been a bird, the 96-year-old DiStasi told NorthJersey.com recently, noting that he always has been “drawn” to the skies.

A graduate of the Casey Jones School of Aeronautics, an ancestor of Vaughn College, DiStasi is one of New Jersey’s most legendary aviators, a member of the state’s Aviation Hall of Fame who so loved flying that at 94 he taught himself to fly a helicopter. He worked at Fairchild Hiller and the Curtiss-Wright Corp. before retiring from Boeing Rotorcraft Systems.

After retiring in 1985, he became an aircraft consultant and continued to fly regularly. Read the full profile of DiStasi’s life and career in aviation here.