JFK CLEARANCE/GROUND = question

[chefnoel]

I'm fairly new to this site - very interesting stuff.

I was listening to JFK Clearance/Ground the other night, a busy night with planes waiting to take off - like 40 lined up - and the controller was telling the pilots to go to a particular location on the airport and turn their engines off and wait for a 'heads up' from the tower as to when to start their engines.

The question - when a plane is at the gate and waiting to push back - I have been told that the plane is connected to a battery truck to provide the power needed to start the engines.  How do they start their engines when there is no battery truck out on the field?

I hope I make myself clear.

Thanks.

[KSYR-pjr]

The question - when a plane is at the gate and waiting to push back - I have been told that the plane is connected to a battery truck to provide the power needed to start the engines.  How do they start their engines when there is no battery truck out on the field?

I cannot address JFK ground specifically, but in cases where I have been a passenger on a multiengine airliner that was placed in a ground hold away from the gate, the pilots left one engine idling to provide power and crucial heating/air conditioning for the passengers and, presumably, to restart the other engine(s).

[moto400ex]

An APU (auxillary power unit) may also be used to start engines and run other equipment while engines are off.