The United Airlines Boeing 727 landed at Meigs Field on September 28, 1992 (on a runway not built for jet airliners). After that, the Museum had the plane loaded on a barge and sent to a dry dock for one year then brought to the lakeshore, pulled across Lake Shore Drive (while thousands of people watched) and eventually moved into the Museum. To get it inside, the plane was taken apart, specifically by removing its wings and tail. One of the Museum’s columns at the West entrance also had to be taken down to help fit it through the entrance. After months of preparations, the original Take Flight exhibit opened in 1994. The exhibit was refreshed in 2021.

The plane’s fuselage bears the name of Captain William Norwood, the first African-American pilot for United, whose story is featured in the exhibit. A section of the 727 now looks as it did on its first flights in 1964. The 2021 renovations also involved removing parts of the airplane's exterior to reveal its mechanical, electronic, and hydraulic systems. Guests can now see wings, engines, landing gear, lavatories and even the black box. A glass floor inside the plane shows the cables and pulleys used to steer the plane, while a media presentation demonstrates the 727’s technology in action, from takeoff to landing. The newly conserved cockpit explains how pilots communicate, navigate, and fly.