I got my license at a farm airport South of Chicago. I moved to the Northern burbs to be closer to my GF now wife and went to get checked out at Priester Aviation at PWK, then PalWaukee and now Chicago Executive. PWK is a busy Delta carved out of ORDs Bravo.
Anyway, the CFI was an arrogant di . . . young kid who was irritated to fly with me. On our way back in I was asked to report 2 miles out for runway 16. In hindsight painfully obvious and standard direction.
All I heard was “6 November Yankee report two alpha one six”. I said “Say again for 6 November Yankee?”
Same. I look at CFI he said “just repeat the instruction back to him” and he keyed the mic and read it back.
He was so irritated, maybe disgusted?, by me. I told him I didn’t understand what 2 alpha 16 meant. Was that a procedure or something?
He raised his voice and clarified OUT FOR. Report 2 miles out on the approach to runway 1 6!
Well, I felt dumb. I’ve been pretty comfortable on the radio since flying out of PWK but I’ll never forget that flight.
I remember having a pounding headache from my DCs too. But . . . It’s all overwhelming until you experience it.