Director apologizes for crash movie clip that some believe is Fairchild AFB footage

Hollywood producer Michael Bay apologized Wednesday for including a two-second clip of a fiery plane crash that appears to be the B-52 bomber that went down during practice for an air show at Fairchild Air Force Base in 1994. The footage in the movie “Project Almanac” has been removed, according to the Air Force Times newspaper. Families of the Air Force crew that lost their lives complained the footage was insensitive. The Air Force Times reported that Paramout Pictures claimed to have used footage from a 2009 plane crash in Toyko. However, the clip very much resembles the crash at Fairchild. The Air Force Times article embedded video of the crash at Fairchild in a side-by-side comparison with the movie clip. Bay, best known for directing the “Transformers” blockbuster action movies and “Pearl Harbor,” issued a statement to the Air Force Times regarding the clip saying, “Unfortunately today I learned that the movie ‘Project Almanac,’ produced by my Platinum Dunes company, directed by a talented first-time director, used a 2-second shot in a grainy news clip of a real B-52 crash. 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 realizing the impact it could have on the families.” The B-52 crash at Fairchild killed the pilot, Lt. Col. Arthur “Bud” Holland, along with Lt. Col. Kenneth Huston, Lt. Col. Mark McGeehan and Col. Robert Wolff. The paper reported that Bay’s quick move to erase the clip and his apology satisfied members of the families. Whitney Wolff, daughter of the late Col. Wolff, told the Air Force Times: “Mr. Bay, thank you from the bottom of my heart for your apology and your quick response to this. “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.”