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Boeing's CEO has finally broken his silence in the wake of Boeing's 737 Max crashes, saying that the company 'clearly fell short' and failed to adequately communicate with regulators.

Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg spoke on Wednesday in his first interview since Boeing's 737 MAX aircraft was grounded across the globe after two planes crashed in Ethiopia and Indonesia, claiming 346 lives. 

In October of 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 tragically crashed in Indonesia, killing 189 people on board. Then in March of this year, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed, killing 157 people.

He admitted fault in Boeing's flight system flaws and said he's so confident in the fundamental safety of the plane, he'd put his own family on it. 

'I do personally apologize to the families. We feel terrible about these accidents, and we apologize for what happened, we are sorry for the loss of lives in both accidents, and that will never change. That will always be with us. I can tell you it affects me directly as a leader of this company, it's very difficult,' he said in a sit down interview with CBS.  

Boeing Chief Executive Dennis Muilenburg broke his silence on the deadly 737 Max crashes that killed 346 people saying the company 'fell short' in a CBS interview Wednesday

An issue in both of the crashes was the flights' new control system - known as MCAS and a deactivated warning light connected to angle sensors. Boeing knew about the angle sensor issue but didn't report it to the FAA for 13 months, until after the first crash

Though the investigation is ongoing, an issue in both of the crashes was the flights' new control system - known as MCAS - which was activated after fed erroneous information. 

Boeing had deactivated a signal that was designed to advise the crew of a disagreement between the plane's 'angle of attack' sensors, which measure its angle vis-a-vis oncoming air to warn of impending stalls. 

Those sensors provide data to the MCAS, the flight handling system.    

When asked why Boeing didn't activate that light on all its jets and didn't tell the FAA for 13 months, Muilenburg said, 'The implementation of that software, we did not do it correctly. Our engineers discovered that.'

'We are fixing it now, and our communication on that was not what it should have been,' he added. 

The FAA didn't learn about the angle sensor light issue until after the Lion crash, even though Boeing was aware of the problem. 

The design of the MCAS system has been criticized by aviation experts because it is tied to just one sensor at a time, making it susceptible to malfunction.   

In March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed, killing 157 people. Investigators pictured above looking through the debris of the crash

In October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 tragically crashed in Indonesia, killing 189. The debris of that fallen flight pictured above

In both of the MAX crashes, the MCAS pointed the plane sharply downward based on a faulty sensor reading, hindering the pilots' effort to control the aircraft after takeoff, according to preliminary crash investigations.

In the crashes, pilots futility tried repeatedly to gain control of the plane - but the MCAS repeatedly took over, nosediving the aircraft. 

'The pilots were essentially in a tug of war with the plane, for control of the plane. That flight control system that you mentioned, the MCAS overroad the pilots more than two dozen times, and the pilots ultimately lost control and that plane essentially did a death dive into the ocean at 450 miles an hour,' CBS' Norah O'Donnell said to the CEO.   

Muilenburg, who has repeatedly rejected suggestions of a design flaw in the 737 MAX, acknowledged implementation shortcomings.

'We clearly fell short and the implementation of this angle-of-attack disagree alert was a mistake, right, we did not implement it properly. We're confident in the fundamental safety of the airplane,' he said. 

Muilenburg says that he's so confident in the changes and improvements to the plane's safety, he's willing to put his own family on board - 'Without any hesitation. Absolutely.'

The interview comes a week after the FAA led a meeting of international regulators designed to coordinate the process to approve the return of the 737 MAX into service.

Alexandre de Juniac, head of the International Air Transport Association, said Wednesday that the plane - which has been grounded since mid-March - will remain out of service 'at least 10 to 12 weeks' while regulators review Boeing's proposed fix to the MCAS.

A note from CFRA Research characterized the timeframe for the 737 MAX resumption as 'worse' than expected, but said Boeing was still well positioned once it exits the crisis.

'Our thesis on Boeing is based on long term commercial aerospace demand, a strong order book and the likelihood that Boeing will not lose significant orders as long as the plane resumes service safely,' CFRA said.

'We expect continued volatility in the shares until the issues hanging over Boeing move closer to being resolved,' CFRA added.

Aside from getting the 737 MAX off the ground, Boeing in concerned with compensating companies. 

International regulators are reviewing Boeing's proposed fix to the MCAS system. In the meantime the aircraft will remain grounded for another 10 to 12 weeks 

On Wednesday Muilenburg told an investor conference in New York that the company will tailor its compensation to airlines for the 737 MAX grounding around customer preference, and they could be paid back in services instead of cash.

'We know we've impacted the summer schedules for many of them, and it's difficult, it's painful,' he said.

'I don't see this as an additional material event for us, but it's something that's going to require individual attention customer by customer,' he added.

Compensation could include tweaking plane delivery schedules, or offering additional training or services, as well as cash in some cases, he said.

Muilenburg described last week's meeting of international regulators as a 'key' event in returning the plane to service, but acknowledged that it may take more time before global regulators are ready to approve the plane's return.

'Our hope is that we'll have a broad international alignment with the FAA,' he said at the conference.

'But there may be some international authorities that will operate on a different schedule. So we'll have to tailor our plans, depending on the regulatory approval to get the airplane back up and flying.'

The FAA will be the first regulator to clear the plane for service, but aviation analysts say the agency wants at least some other countries to approve the plane soon after.

Muilenburg said Boeing was prepared to be flexible as more customers get the green light.

Boeing has cut it production schedule of the 737 MAX and halted new deliveries, necessitating additional storage capacity in Washington and Texas, he said.