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 takeoff, 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.

The aircraft involved was a BAe-3212 Jetstream Super 31, MSN 929, registered as C-FNAA, built by British Aerospace in 1991.

Shortly after taking off from runway 30, the aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 140 feet and ground speed of 160 knots, then entered a dive and hit trees around 938m from the runway and crashed 1265m from the end of the runway and 98m left of the centerline. After the aircraft crashed an extensive fire destroyed most of the wreckage. The sole survivor was ejected from the aircraft.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada sent a team to investigate the cause of the crash. Both of the aircraft's CVR and FDR have been recovered.