Investigators late Thursday appeared no closer to finding who flew a plane over Viking Stadium Wednesday afternoon, dropping thousands of “Gator Bait” fliers on football players practicing for tonight’s crosstown rivalry match-up.

The leaflets apparently were considered a prank as a lead-up to tonight’s clash between Warren Central and Vicksburg High at Viking Stadium. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.

“There have been no new developments,” Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Kathleen Bergen said from her Atlanta office. “We are still working closely with law enforcement officials in Warren County in Mississippi. The key for us is being able to ID the aircraft. We are still aggressively pursuing this.”

“That plane definitely did not come from one of the local airports,” Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said.

At issue for the FAA are two alleged violations of FAA airspace regulations and for the sheriff’s office, criminal misdemeanor charges of disturbing the peace and littering.

“Again, we have to substantiate the alleged activity with evidence, but the concerns for us would be the minimum safety altitude of 1,000 feet for a plane in a congested area and in an area where there was an assembly of people,” Bergen said. “The second was the dropping of objects from the plane.”

As for the FAA, violations of its regulations can result in certification action, which means a pilot can have his pilot’s license suspended or revoked, and in some cases, a civil penalty.

A member of WC’s Lady Vikes soccer team said the plane flew in at between 100 and 200 feet.

“It seemed like I could just jump up and touch it, it was that close,” said Lady Vike junior Hannah Miller. “It went right over the school sign. After the leaflets were dropped, I could tell the football coaches were pretty mad.”