The pilot of a Eurofighter Typhoon jet narrowly avoided crashing his aircraft during rehearsals for an air show at the weekend.
A Ministry Defence spokesman said the pilot of the RAF's most expensive plane had "got too close to the ground".
Witnesses reported that the pilot "slammed on his burners" to prevent the aircraft hitting the ground on Friday during a practice for the show at RAF Fairford, Glos.
Jeremy Flack, an aircraft enthusiast, said: "It just didn't look right to me. He was getting closer to the ground and everyone gasped.
''Many of us got pictures of it happening. A still photo does not do it justice because it looks like it is just taking off. But there's no landing gear down and you can see the heat below the plane from the burners as the pilot desperately tries to save himself from smashing into the ground."
Asked about a report that the plane had been a "split second from disaster", the MoD spokesman said: "I don't know about that. The pilot was in control of his aircraft. He got too close to the ground. He corrected the mistake."
The spokesman said the pilot was one of the most experienced of those flying the Eurofighter.
He could not say whether the pilot had been reprimanded.
He said: "It is an internal matter between the pilot, his ground crew and his commanding officers to establish what went wrong."