On 2004-02-03 10:40:37 -0800, John said:

What circumcstances would make an airline leave a plane guzzling gas
for such a long time on the ground?

Just about none. You couldn't have any ground crew anywhere near the
aircraft doing the usual ground crew stuff (loading/unloading baggage, etc)
with engines running. And nobody in their right mind would leave engines
running without somebody on the flight deck to mind the aircraft.

It seems more likely to me that it might have been very windy at the time
and that the windmilling of the engines along with the noise from the APU
might have given the appearance of having engines running.

--
Larry Fransson
Seattle, WA