Northwestern Air Flight 738
British Aerospace Jetstream 32 · Mechanical failure and pilot error leading to Controlled flight into terrain
From Fort Smith Airport (YSM) to Diavik Diamond Mine Airport
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 6 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 7
- Survivors
- 1
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 1
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
British Aerospace Jetstream 32
- Flight
- J3738
- Aircraft type
- British Aerospace Jetstream 32
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- C-FNAA
- Operator
- Northwestern Air
- Onboard fatalities
- 6
- Route
- From Fort Smith Airport (YSM)To Diavik Diamond Mine Airport
Cause areas
- Aircraft › Aircraft systems
- Personnel issues › Action/decision
- Personnel issues › Psychological
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
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 northeast of Yellowknife. The aircraft crashed shortly after takeoff, 1200 m 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.
Accident
Shortly after taking off from runway 30, the aircraft reached a maximum altitude of 140 feet and ground speed of 160 knots, then entered into a descent from which it did not recover, hitting trees around 938 m from the runway and crashed 1265 m from the end of the runway and 98 m left of the center-line. After the crash, an extensive post-crash fire broke out, which destroyed 80% of the wreckage. The sole survivor was ejected from the aircraft during the accident sequence and suffered minor injuries. Four mine employees and both pilots were killed.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada sent a team, which included lead investigator Jeremy Warkentin to investigate the cause of the crash. Although the aircraft was not equipped with a full flight data recorder, the cockpit voice recorder was recovered.
The Transportation Safety Board of Canada (TSB) classified the investigation as Class 2, indicating a complex investigation with an expected duration of up to 600 days. The investigation team has conducted multiple interviews, analyzed good-quality FDR data, and reviewed CCTV footage from fuelling, passenger loading, and departure. Examination of the engines and propellers revealed no anomalies, and aircraft performance analysis determined that snow on critical surfaces did not negatively affect performance. A preliminary report was released sometime in March 2024.
Final report
On March 5, 2026, the TSB released the final report. They determined after one of the landing gear had failed to retract, the crew reduced power to the engines to reduce the airspeed and allow the gear to retract. During this process, they were preoccupied with the gear indications and did not notice the loss of altitude that came from the decreased power.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Northwestern Air Flight 738” (revision 1364276589, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Northwestern Air Flight 738
- Article
- Northwestern Air Flight 738
- Revision
- 1364276589 · 2026-07-15 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q124396142
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Northwestern Air Flight 738" (page 75902904, revision 1364276589)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.