In 1990, Johnston played at a music festival in Austin, Texas. On the way back to West Virginia on a small, private plane piloted by his father, Johnston became hypomanic and wrestled control of the plane away from his father removing the key from the ignition and throwing it out of the plane. His father, a World War Two fighter pilot, managed to successfully crash-land the plane in a wooded area. Although the plane was destroyed, Johnston and his father emerged unharmed. As a result of this episode, Johnston was involuntarily committed to a mental hospital.