We are NPR fans and follow it via the radio and blog. It’s a place to go to for breaking news, analysis and for stories that are just too interesting — or too entertaining — to pass up. We recently came across this interesting article.

An “equipment outage” at Atlanta’s William B. Hartsfield International Airport has forced a “ground stop” there, the Federal Aviation Administration says.

There’s also a “ground stop,” at Houston’s George Bush Intercontinental.

The problems, as often happens with the airline system, are rippling across the nation.

According to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “a computer glitch shut down most, if not all, departing flights at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport and other airports across the country Thursday morning.”

The Associated Press has sent out this “alert”:

AirTran official: Widespread delays, cancellations nationwide due to FAA flight plan computer problem.

11Alive.com in Atlanta has this:

“We are having a problem processing flight plan information,” FAA spokeswoman Kathleen Bergen said. “We are investigating the cause of the problem.”