Leigh Aerosystems’ latest concept is the “High Road.” A new kind of flying car. The High Road has already completed initial wind tunnel tests at the San Diego Air and Space Museum’s 12-foot tunnel with great success, which led to more detailed mechanical and structural design.

Some of the operational and performance goals for this aerocar include a 180 mph cruise speed at 15,000 ft., 20,000 ft ceiling and a 500-mile range. Sure, it will cost a fortune when it sees the light of day, but the rest of those poor suckers will be on the ground and you’ll be flipping them the bird while tossing empty red bull cans on skyscraper roofs.

They did ground tests last week, but yesterday morning WhiteKnightTwo, the strange looking double-wide plane that will carry SpaceShipTwo and its cargo on suborbital spaceflights, finally took off on its maiden voyage. Four Pratt & Whitney Canada PW308A engines carried the craft into the air.

The flight didn’t last long, just under an hour, and apparently all went perfectly according to plan. The design is pretty amazing and makes we realize that we may just be living in the beginning of Star Trek times, at long last. Soon they’ll be building the Enterprise in orbit.

What might the future of flight look like? The folks at Finnair have a pretty good idea. They have five future aircraft concepts for the year 2093. As you might expect, all the aircrafts are eco-friendly and materials used in the making are 100 percent recyclable. I have to say they look awesome.

How about a zero-emission supersonic aircraft, designed for long-hauls? AV windows that offer zoomable views of the sky or the earth? How about a charter aircraft with turning engines in front that can glide and take-off vertically? Some even feature hologram theaters, restaurants, and bars, shops, a beauty parlor, a first-aid station, and gymnasiums. The future of flight is looking pretty awesome. I’d be willing to bet that most of their ideas will be realized by 2093.

The WhiteKnightTwo is the aircraft that will launch SpaceShipTwo into suborbital space. Today in the Mojave desert, those who are still dreaming the dream unveiled the top-secret craft. The craft’s first job is to serve as a flight simulator next month for pilots. Pilots that will shuttle citizens into space and usher in a new era of space travel. Assuming everything goes as planned, it should begin flight testing at the end of September. Except for the engines and landing gear, the entire craft is made from carbon fiber composite.

According to Virgin Galactic, both ships will be ready for their first flight together in 2009 or 2010. Fittingly, Richard Branson and his family will be the first onboard. The space flight lasts 2.5-hours with five minutes of weightlessness before the ship comes back to Earth.

The truth is out there. I’m still waiting for Mulder and Scully’s official word on Crop circles, but at least some recent UFO reports can be blamed on this extremely bright disc. This thing is the brainchild of artist Peter Coffin and it was made in collaboration with London-based Cinimod Studio.

It measures in at 7-meters and is constructed of aluminum covered with 3,000 super bright programmable LEDs. It isn’t just pretty, it has more going for it. Like an on-board 6kw generator for power. How is it controlled? Remotely via SMS. Below is a video showing the craft flying off the coast of Sopot, Poland on July 4th.

This beauty will cost you $139,000 and it can take off and land on water and/or dry land. The controls are more like a car than an airplane, which should make it easy for you to get around. It’s fold up wings make it easy to store this baby in a garage or even tow it behind your car while on vacation. It has a 32 foot wingspan otherwise. It should be available for sale in 2010.

It’s the ideal vehicle for the traveler of the future. Remember, we were supposed to be flying around in our own planes by now. The plane conforms to the FAA’s new Light Sport Aircraft category, which means that it’s restricted to flying in daylight, under 10,000 feet with a top speed of 140mph. I’m sure it’s a breeze to learn how to fly it, since you can get the Pilot License required to fly it with about 20 hours of flight training. Awesome. I’m gonna go clean the garage.

For thousands of years man has dreamed of flying like a bird with nothing but a wing attached to his back like Icarus and his fabled wings. The holdup has been a gnawing need by most men to not plummet to their death thanks to an Icarus-like wing failure.

A Swiss man has set a record by becoming the first person to fly with nothing but a wing and a jet engine strapped to his back. The man names Yves Rossy was dropped from a plane over the Swiss Alps with a parachute and a folded wing.