Michael Bay has apologised to the families of four US Air Force officers who died in a 1994 plane crash after footage of the disaster found its way into a new film from his production company.

A trailer for forthcoming time travel movie Project Almanac, from Bay’s Platinum Dunes, features a scene in which characters watch television footage of a crash. Families of the victims of the accident at the Fairchild Air Force base in Washington State have complained that the shots had been culled from genuine film of the fatal accident, and Bay has now asked studio Paramount to remove the footage.

“Unfortunately today I learned that the movie Project Almanac, produced by my Platinum Dunes company, directed by a talented first-time director, used a two-second shot in a grainy news clip of a real B-52 crash,” said Bay in a statement. “When the director presented his cut to me, I actually thought the short clip was a created visual effect like many of the other shots in the film.

“I let film directors make their movies at Platinum Dunes and give them tremendous responsibilities. Well, unfortunately a very bad choice was made to use a real crash instead of creating a VFX shot, without realising the impact it could have on the families.”

The families of two of the crash victims, Colonel Robert Wolff and Lieutenant colonel Mark McGeehan, are understood to have been left deeply distressed after viewing the trailer. However, Wolff’s daughter, Whitney Wolff Thompson, told Airforce Times via email that she now accepted Bay’s apology.

“Mr Bay, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your apology and your quick response to this,” Thompson wrote. “I appreciate your willingness to admit that this was indeed a real plane crash, and that a mistake was made in choosing to use it.”

Sarah Wolff, Wolff’s daughter-in-law, said she accepted Bay’s apology and hoped the shot would now be cut from Project Almanac, which is due in US cinemas on 30 January. “That is all we were requesting,” said Wolff. “I appreciate his swift response and will hope that Paramount offers a similar apology.”

Paramount has signalled it will adhere to Bay’s request. Project Almanac, a science fiction movie in the “found footage” style is directed by first timer Dean Israelite. The $12m movie centres on a group of teenagers who build a time machine and use it to correct past mistakes, but soon discover the ripple effect of their actions in the past.

Platinum Dunes once specialised in low-budget remakes of classic horror fare such as A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, most of which received short shrift from the critics. But the firm has recently branched out into more ambitious territory with box office smashes such as thriller The Purge and a remake of comic book movie Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.