"Today a 747 taxied over a parked and tied down Cessna 172, demolishing it. Under repeated questioning the airport official reluctantly admitted to our reporter that the small aircraft had not, in fact, filed a flight plan."

A flight plan is not a plan for flight.
Say it with me!
A flight plan is not a plan for flight.
A flight plan is not a plan for flight.
A flight plan is not a plan for flight.

A flight plan is FAA Form 7233-1. It takes up 1/2 of a page. The other half of the page is for a "Military stopover" and ironically the second page is reserved exclusively for the "Paperwork Reduction Act Statement"

This form is the official equivalent of telling your wife "Here's where and when I'm leaving from, here's where I'm going and when I should get there. Please send them looking for me if I don't arrive." ETS'ers know they should give a responsible person this same information anytime they go hiking, flying, whatever.

Obviously Steve did this also because now they are looking for him. They don't have a route to check because he was just flying "around" the local area.