This incident took place on a KC-135 evaluation sortie at Fairchild AFB, WA, involving my aircraft commander and me (the copilot), both receiving checkrides. The check pilot was also receiving an evaluation from a second check pilot (the evalua-tor), for a total of three checkrides. The final crew-member was a single, experienced boom operator. On the day of the incident, the crew showed 4+00 hours prior to takeoff. This was 45 minutes earlier than standard crew show, to ensure that the check pilot had the opportunity to review all of the evaluation criteria, as well as to give the crew additional time to attend to any possible mission changes. Of course, Murphy's Law of Checkrides was in full effect, and mission changes were abundant. Within minutes of arrival at base ops, we were notified that our scheduled receiver had cancelled. Due to mission priority, we were able to assume the receiver from another sortie. However, this would include significant changes in mission planning and coordination.
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