The opening of the HAI Heli-Expo 1990 Convention included the spectacular landing of prototype Bell XV-15 Tilt Rotor, N702NA, in the parking lot of the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in downtown Dallas. N702NA made its first fight (hover) on May 3, 1977 at the Bell Flight Test Centre at (KGKY) Arlington Municipal Airport, TX. Both XV-15s prototypes spent their early years at NASA Ames (KNUQ), then N702NA returned to Bell in Texas in Oct. 1981 for further test. On Aug. 22, 1992, it crashed at Arlington without serious pilot injuries. The cockpit was salvaged and became a simulator.

The opening of the HAI Heli-Expo 1990 Convention also included a landing by the prototype McDonnell-Douglas MD530N, N530NT, in the front parking lot of the Dallas Convention center. The NOTAR ("no tail rotor") system was first flown on a Hughes OH-6A (65-12917) on Dec. 17, 1981. After modifications, a second version flew on March 12, 1986. N530NT was the third NOTAR to fly (msn 160003D, ex-N8324F) on Dec. 29, 1989 - two months before Heli-Expo 1990 - but the hot-and-high 530N version never entered production. This 530N was later broken up.

The opening of the HAI Heli-Expo 1990 Convention included the spectacular landing of prototype Bell XV-15 Tilt Rotor, N702NA, in the parking lot of the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center in downtown Dallas. N702NA made its first fight (hover) on May 3, 1977 at the Bell Flight Test Centre at (KGKY) Arlington Municipal Airport, TX. Both XV-15s prototypes spent their early years at NASA Ames (KNUQ), then N702NA returned to Bell in Texas in Oct. 1981 for further test. On Aug. 22, 1992, it crashed at Arlington without serious pilot injuries. The cockpit was salvaged and became a simulator.