The flight was aborted.
The British Prime Minister made light of his brush with disaster at Johannesburg airport.
"Another few seconds and we would have been in the air. Suddenly there was a bang. I didn't have time to be particularly worried about it," he said, before making his way back to Britain on another flight.
Downing Street insisted: "In the technical jargon, this is termed a minor incident."
But The Times has learned that Mr Blair's chartered plane was 36 years old, raising the question of why the Prime Minister of one of the world's biggest economies was in such an old, albeit refurbished, aircraft.
The plane - converted for VIP passengers - was a DC8 built in 1969 or 1970, though its engines were replaced 16 years ago.
DC8s were the first generation of long-haul aircraft, and have long since been superseded by modern Boeing and Airbus jets.
The oldest aircraft in British Airways's fleet is a 16-year-old Boeing 747 - half the age of the DC8 carrying Mr Blair.
Officials could not recall Mr Blair flying on an older private aircraft, though for short-haul flights in Europe he sometimes travels on RAF aircraft that are well over 20 years old.
The answer appears to be economy. The DC8 cost $13,500 an hour to charter, and came with seating for 30 passengers, two lounges, three large plasma TV screens, a conference room with a master bedroom and bathroom. But Mr Blair normally uses a much larger and costlier BA Boeing 777 plane - a mere 10 years old - on overseas trips.
Mr Blair had cut short his visit to return home for the vote on identity cards in the House of Commons. His flight was aborted at 11.30pm South African time and there were no more flights out that night, nor any on Monday morning, that would have got him back in time.
Mr Blair had to telephone Government Chief Whip Hilary Armstrong from the departure lounge and tell her he was stranded and would not be able to make it. He then spent the night at the home of the British high commissioner, Paul Boateng.
It was the second big vote Mr Blair had missed in two weeks. His absence from the vote on the religious hatred bill was directly responsible for his second defeat as Prime Minister.
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