Two people doing predator control work were killed when a state-owned airplane they were in crashed today in rural Wayne County.

The single engine airplane went down around 8:30 a.m. on Parker Mountain located near the towns of Loa and Bicknell, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

"The pilot and passenger both perished," Tal Ehlers with Wayne County Search and Rescue said, adding that the plane caught fire.

Names of the dead were being withheld pending notification of family members.

The single-engine Husky Aviat A-1 plane belonged to the Utah Department of Agriculture and was doing predator control work, FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.

"The FAA and (National Transportation Safety Board) are en route there to begin investigation," he said.

Utah Department of Agriculture spokesman Larry Lewis said the people on-board were federal employees with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's wildlife services program.

"We supply the plane, because they're protecting state wildlife and livestock," Lewis said.

The USDA did not immediately comment on the crash.

The Wayne County Sheriff's Office said the area was remote and crews were on the scene trying to secure the area.

The cause of the crash is unknown, but FAA records show the plane was last certified as airworthy in September 2006.

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E-mail: bwinslow@desnews.com