diff --git a/libraries/GCS_MAVLink/GCS_Common.cpp b/libraries/GCS_MAVLink/GCS_Common.cpp
index 0cfade2121..b6c3c40c2a 100644
--- a/libraries/GCS_MAVLink/GCS_Common.cpp
+++ b/libraries/GCS_MAVLink/GCS_Common.cpp
@@ -1142,7 +1142,7 @@ void GCS_MAVLINK::send_statustext_all(MAV_SEVERITY severity, const char *fmt, ..
         if ((1U<<i) & mavlink_active) {
             mavlink_channel_t chan = (mavlink_channel_t)(MAVLINK_COMM_0+i);
             if (comm_get_txspace(chan) >= MAVLINK_NUM_NON_PAYLOAD_BYTES + MAVLINK_MSG_ID_STATUSTEXT_LEN) {
-                char msg2[50];
+                char msg2[50] {};
                 va_list arg_list;
                 va_start(arg_list, fmt);
                 hal.util->vsnprintf((char *)msg2, sizeof(msg2), fmt, arg_list);