A star of Ice Road Truckers has died along with another man in a plane crash in western Montana, US.

Darrell Ward, 52, was killed after the plane he was a passenger in came down on the hard shoulder of Interstate 90, south-east of Missoula on Sunday.

A statement on Ward's Facebook page said he was travelling to Montana to begin filming a pilot episode of a show about the recovery of plane crashes.

The pilot, 56-year-old Mark Melotz, appeared to be attempting to land at a nearby airstrip when something went drastically wrong, according to Missoula County sheriff's captain Bill Burt.

Witnesses described seeing the aircraft hit several trees before crashing into a fireball.

Captain Burt said the pilot bought the Cessna 182 aircraft on Friday.

Ice Road Truckers follows a group of truckers who bring supplies across frozen lakes to remote towns.