You Better Copy (ORD Taxi Rap)

Yeah… your boy Poker-Pilot is back at it again

O-R-D… you already know…

Pen out… head down… don’t miss a call…

One shot… one clearance…

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His palms sweaty, pen ready, clearance heavy

Ground’s callin fast, voice sharp like confetti

You blink once—miss a turn—now you’re buried

Taxi diagram lookin like spaghetti, you ain’t ready

Ring road system, Alpha and Bravo like a racetrack

Clockwise, counter, but you better not backtrack

Fourty-minute taxi, yeah that’s normal, that’s fact

Tryna dodge a runway crossing—ATC don’t slack

2-8 Center, 2-7 Right, welcome to the madness

Join Papa, head east, Echo Echo, Golf Golf—yeah you had this?

Cross 2-7 Left, but wait—hold up—traffic stacked

Metering got you paused while your patience gets taxed

Construction everywhere, O-R-D Next in effect

Concourse Delta rising, tearing up what you expect

Taxiways shifting, routes getting rechecked

Yesterday’s muscle memory? Yeah, forget that

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You only get one read-back, don’t choke, don’t stall

Miss one letter—now you’re talkin to them all

Ramp, ground, tower—yeah they watch you fall

Penalty taxi clearance comin… long as a wall

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You better copy, you better write every letter you get

This airport’ll bury you in concrete and jets

You only got one shot—don’t you dare forget

At O’Hare ground control ain’t forgiving your mess

You better copy, diagram lit, pen tight in your grip

One missed call and you’re takin a trip

All the way around the ring road, welcome to it

This is O-R-D—man, you live or you quit

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“Runway 2-8 Right, Golf, Golf-2, Bravo, Echo Echo, November”

Classic clearance, yeah you better remember

Spit it back clean, don’t stutter, don’t surrender

‘Cause hesitation here? That’s a career ender

“November, Alpha-10, Bravo, Uniform, Golf, taxi to Bravo-19”

You scribblin fast, tryin to keep it pristine

But the ink’s runnin wild, and the map’s obscene

And you still gotta dodge heavies rollin between

“Charlie-1, Zulu, hold short of 2-7-Charlie”

Simple on paper, but the flow ain’t hardly

Predictable now—construction changed the party

What you got yesterday? Yeah, today it’s gnarly

East flow, west flow—depends on the wind

Taxiways Mike, Delta, Bravo, Golf—where do you begin?

Zulu, Golf, November, Alpha, Papa—spin it again

It’s a maze with engines, and the clock’s closing in

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Now they buildin up terminals, tearing down lanes

Global Terminal comin, yeah they changin the game

Concourse Echo next, everything rearranged

So the routes you knew last week? They ain’t the same

Long taxi times, perimeter grind

Avoidin runway crossings, just circlin blind

And if you miss a turn, you fall behind

Now ATC hittin you with that “advise when ready to copy” line

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And now it’s wild—you might park at a Golf gate

Used to be rare, now we flexin—no debate

Slide past American like “yeah, appreciate…”

United movin weight, yeah we dominate

But don’t get cocky—this place humbles quick

One bad read-back and you’re lost in the mix

Ground’s got that tone like “you sure about this?”

Now you’re writin novels just to taxi your ship

CAT-3 low vis? Routes get tighter

Special taxi plans, now the stakes get higher

Lights in the fog, but your brain’s on fire

Tryna keep the line movin, not be the one they wire

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Pen in your hand, yeah your lifeline’s real

Every letter matters when you spin that wheel

One wrong call and you feel that chill

ORD don’t care how long you’ve been at the deal

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You better copy, you better write every letter you get

This airport’ll bury you in concrete and jets

You only got one shot—don’t you dare forget

At O’Hare ground control ain’t forgiving your mess

You better copy, diagram lit, pen tight in your grip

One missed call and you’re takin a trip

All the way around the ring road, welcome to it

This is O-R-D—man, you live or you quit

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Yeah… pen down… brakes set… finally parked…

But tomorrow?

Same chaos… same game…

You better be ready to copy…