On 23 January 2024, Northwestern Air Flight 738, a British Aerospace Jetstream, was chartered by the Rio Tinto Group to carry mine workers from Fort Smith to the Diavik Diamond Mine, located around 300 km (190 mi) northeast of Yellowknife. The aircraft crashed shortly after take off, 1,200 m (3,900 ft) from the runway near Fort Smith Airport, killing six of the seven passengers and crew. The only survivor was taken to the Fort Smith Health Centre and was later airlifted to the Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife for further treatment.

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a BAe-3212 Jetstream Super 31 built in 1991 and registered as C-FNAA.

Accident

After take off the plane reached a maximum altitude of 140 feet and a maximum speed of 160 knots, after that the plane entered a dive and it impacted trees around 900m from the runway and then it crashed about 1200m from the runway. After the plane impacted the terrain a fire destroyed most of the wreckage of Flight 738. The sole survivor was ejected from the aircraft during impact.

Investigation

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada sent a team to investigate the cause of the crash. As of January 30, they recovered the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder.