When Captain Joy Roa looks back at what first drew him to aviation, he doesn’t point to a single dramatic moment or life-altering event. Instead, he credits a restless spirit and a hunger for something more exciting than the ordinary hobbies that surrounded him in youth.
“I would easily get bored with hobbies and I always looked for something more exciting,” Roa recalled in an interview with Financial Adviser PH. “It was horses first, then motorcycles, and I just needed something more challenging and exciting—something faster and not limited to the ground.”
That search for speed and freedom would eventually carry him from horse stables and racetracks to runways and open skies. But his restless energy wasn’t just about thrill-seeking. It was an early sign of a mindset that would later define his entrepreneurial journey: the refusal to settle for comfort zones, and the drive to explore what lay just beyond.
A High School Dare
Roa’s adventurous streak came out even in the classroom. While attending Ateneo de Manila as a teenager, he admits he wasn’t the most disciplined student. One day, a teacher grew frustrated and told him bluntly that if he couldn’t take his studies seriously, he should leave.
Instead of shrinking back, Roa answered with the kind of irreverent wit that only a restless high schooler could deliver. “I mentioned to him that if I do that, I will join the air force and fly a jet and start shooting the Physics department in Ateneo with a machine gun,” Roa recounted.
What began as a sarcastic retort turned into a recurring memory among his peers. “Up to today my classmates then are teasing me if I have done what I mentioned to my teacher since they know I am flying,” he said.
The remark, while playful, also revealed the spark of ambition buried beneath the mischief. Even in jest, Roa was already imagining himself in the cockpit, far above the restrictions of the classroom.
Discipline in the Skies
That spark turned into reality when Roa decided to pursue pilot training. But the dream of flying quickly collided with the reality of discipline. For the first time in his life, he realized that passion alone wouldn’t be enough.
“Taking my pilot written exams was the first time I studied in my whole life,” Roa admitted. “I learned that there are no shortcuts in life after this. I decided that I should study everything that I get into and be the best of what I have decided to do.”
That lesson became a turning point. From a teenager who once shrugged at academic rigor, he transformed into a man who valued mastery and preparation. Aviation didn’t just offer him the adrenaline of soaring through the skies—it gave him a framework for life.
Foundations for the Future
The principles Roa learned in those formative years—restlessness that pushed him to explore, humor that kept him resilient, and discipline that anchored his ambition—became the foundation for everything he would later build.
Long before he launched Air Ads in 1982, pivoted into aircraft restoration, or became known across Asia as the host of Asian Air Safari, these early experiences shaped the mindset that made it possible.
The restless energy that once made him outgrow horses and motorcycles became the same energy that fueled him to innovate in aviation. The classroom confrontation that made him declare he would fly jets became the same spirit that helped him take risks and chart unconventional paths. And the discipline learned from studying for pilot exams gave him the perseverance to survive the unpredictable turbulence of both aviation and business.
Lessons for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Roa’s early story offers more than just colorful anecdotes. For aspiring entrepreneurs and aviators alike, it provides a template for how youthful restlessness can evolve into purposeful ambition—if paired with discipline.
Getting bored with comfort zones can be a gift if it pushes someone to pursue challenges. Humor in the face of authority can be a spark of independence, if tempered with responsibility. And discovering that “there are no shortcuts in life” can turn reckless ambition into resilient mastery.
For Joy Roa, the restless kid who once threatened the Physics department now stands as a seasoned aviator and entrepreneur. And it all began with the search for something faster, higher, and more exciting than the ordinary.
