Deseret News in Haiti: Copters, jet are kept busy dawn to dusk

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Hovering high above the destruction caused by the Jan. 12 Haiti earthquake, Jeremy Johnson has plugged a favorite iPod music mix into his helicopter's speaker system.

It may seem strange to be listening to upbeat tunes while getting a bird's-eye view of pancaked buildings, collapsed neighborhoods, crude shanties and the masses of Haitians collecting at money-transfer offices, foreign embassies, gas stations and supply distribution points.

Actually, the music is just background for Johnson, a St. George businessman who brought his private jet, helicopter and crew of pilot buddies and Washington County search-and-rescue specialists to Haiti to help with post-quake efforts.

"I have no ties to Haiti — this is my first time down here," said the 34-year-old Johnson. "I just have helicopters."

Yes, make that plural.

Arriving only days after the quake, Johnson saw he could supplement his $3 million Eurocopter EC130 with the purchase of a pair of used, smaller Robinson Z44s to the tune of about $600,000.

He and his pilots have been shuttling the injured, delivering medical personnel where they are most needed and helping distribute supplies for more than a week now, always in the air during daytime hours.

And sometimes that iPod mix meshes with the moment.

Eric Clapton's "Change the World" comes on as Johnson swaps doctors in and out of Leogone.

And the Kenny Rogers/Dolly Parton duet of "Islands in the Stream" is playing as he hops his way along a riverbed, setting down his copter and unloading whatever food and relief supplies he could get his hands on.

Today, it's mostly 100-pound bags of Nicaraguan black beans he was able to secure from international food supplies at Port-au-Prince's Toussaint Louveture International Airport, site of all international cargo and military airlifts.

Beans become manna from heaven, courtesy of Johnson's angel-like efforts.

Johnson unloads a bag of beans, having learned that slicing open a bag means more hands can stuff fistsful of beans into pans and clothing before a couple of people — usually larger, more physical men — can grab the cut bag and haul off the rest of the contents for themselves.