LHR
funny I just looked at the crewlist for the flight in question and other than the one Canadian I can see of the four, I do know the other skipper was a former Trainer, a very competant pilot and certainly not from across the other side of the Atlantic.
18 hours is a little ridiculous and having not flown the JFK run for more than a year now, I seem to recall that max duty day has always been a very grey area with the LR Ops.
I do remember every flight that left DXB for JFK was in discretion before you even left the gate, the window for 3 crew was only 20 minutes.
As far as landing on fumes go, what happened did they end up on another NAT Track at the wrong level, we all know that never happens, extensive holding in the terminal area, never happens. Could they have exercised their option to "commit to destination" as per the fuel policy, only they know for sure.
As far as back-bone goes there are many of the Canadians who are far more vocal than you may realize, only it is done directly to the people involved and not here.
Nothing to do with the original post I know but just a couple of Fils worth
Take care
Dooner