Two teenage boys are in police custody after the pair allegedly stole a light aircraft from a rural US airstrip and flew about 24 kilometres before landing it successfully.

Utah’s Deseret Newsreported the boys, aged 15 and 14, stole a single-engine Cessna from a private airstrip in Jensen in the US state’s east.

The Uintah County sheriff's office said they left a group home earlier this week and were staying with friends in the Jensen area.

They apparently gained access to a tractor and drove to the airstrip, where they took off in the plane and were spotted flying low along a US highway.

After landing at the Vernal Regional Airport, they were arrested and they have been detained at the Split Mountain Youth Detention Center in Vernal.