diff --git a/libraries/GCS_MAVLink/GCS_Common.cpp b/libraries/GCS_MAVLink/GCS_Common.cpp
index 73eb329868..5aab2d82bc 100644
--- a/libraries/GCS_MAVLink/GCS_Common.cpp
+++ b/libraries/GCS_MAVLink/GCS_Common.cpp
@@ -1836,7 +1836,7 @@ void GCS::send_textv(MAV_SEVERITY severity, const char *fmt, va_list arg_list, u
         // send_text can be called from multiple threads; we must
         // protect the "text" member with _statustext_sem
         hal.util->vsnprintf(statustext_printf_buffer, sizeof(statustext_printf_buffer), fmt, arg_list);
-        memcpy(first_piece_of_text, statustext_printf_buffer, ARRAY_SIZE(first_piece_of_text));
+        memcpy(first_piece_of_text, statustext_printf_buffer, ARRAY_SIZE(first_piece_of_text)-1);
 
         // filter destination ports to only allow active ports.
         statustext_t statustext{};