2 plane victims ID'd; aircraft fire injures 3

A day after two men were killed in a plane crash on a Wayne County mountain, three others were taken by helicopter ambulance to Salt Lake after their plane caught fire in Tooele County.

The three family members — a father who was flying, his wife and their 10-year-old daughter — were caught up in a gust of wind while landing at the Wendover Airport.

The father overcorrected, causing the plane to skid off the runway and then catch fire, according to the Tooele County Sheriff's Office.

Injuries are not life-threatening, according to the sheriff's office.

Meanwhile, the men killed in the Wayne County crash have been identified.

Pilot Joseph Harris and passenger Glen Stevenson were killed Friday when their single-engine Husky A-1 plane went down on Parker Mountain, a sheriff's office news release said.

Spokesman Tal Ehlers did not know the ages of the victims or their cities of residence.

The pair, both employees of the U.S. Department of Agriculture's wildlife services program, took off about 6 a.m. from an airstrip in Richfield. They were conducting a low-level flying operation to remove coyotes that were attacking lambs, Utah's Department of Agriculture and Food spokesman Larry Lewis said.

The plane is owned by the state of Utah and used by the USDA's predator eradication program to protect livestock. It was located about six miles southwest of State Route 24 on the Awapa Plateau, the sheriff's office said.

A person on horseback saw the aircraft go down about 8:30 a.m. Friday and called 911.

Harris was trained to fly in the mountains and had his last skill review in December, Lewis said.

It was the first fatal crash for the program since 1998.

The cause of the crash remained unknown Saturday but was under investigation by the sheriff's office, the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board.

The USDA planned to suspend any further aerial operations while the crash is investigated, spokeswoman Carol Bannerman said Friday.