Call it a new version of pilot error. Bike race spectators were startled Saturday to see a small airplane circling overhead that towed a Confederate flag with the slogan, “Confederate Heros Matter” -- yes, with the E missing from Heroes.

The stunt was arranged by the Virginia Flaggers, a pro-flag group, as a counter against protesters holding an anti-Confederate demonstration below on Monument Avenue. The flaggers blamed the pilot for the mistake.

But the misspelling sparked a social media tirade of jokes and jabs. So the group ran a corrected, Photoshopped image on its website and included denouncements against “Neo-Yankees in RVA and beyond.”