Johnson was an advanced skier and was on a two-day Heli-ski trip in the Ruby Mountains in 1994. The helicopters returned to take the party back off the mountain in bad weather and Johnson's 206B3 Jet Ranger helicopter had to land and wait 2 hours for the storm to subside. After taking off again the helicopter developed engine trouble and crashed in Thorpe Creek Canyon, around five miles south of Lamoille. Johnson was killed and her husband Mike Hoover was critically injured in the same crash but survived. The pilot and Disney president Frank G. Wells were both also killed in the crash. Hoover later sued the helicopter manufacturer and reached an out of court settlement due to a fault with the engine design relating to snow ingestion. The legal case was a finalist for the Steven J. Sharp Public Service Award by the American Association for Justice.