Originally Posted by
Lead Balloon
I thought it derived from the Italian word for ‘bread’.
“PAN PAN PAN” = [We need] bread, bread, bread.
Negative. But you’re close. The origins of the word are in fact French - From ‘Pain au Chocolat’. First used inflight in the late 1600s. Transmitted by an irate French first officer bickering over a flight deck breakfast on a hot mic. Hence, Urgency.