diff --git a/QGCCommon.pri b/QGCCommon.pri
index 2fb1d80163d7cd4f493a828fe8f92b261c4b657f..de0c5166560f16139533100ce7b9dd69a36301af 100644
--- a/QGCCommon.pri
+++ b/QGCCommon.pri
@@ -221,7 +221,7 @@ WindowsBuild {
 #
 
 ReleaseBuild {
-    DEFINES += QT_NO_DEBUG
+    DEFINES += QT_NO_DEBUG QT_MESSAGELOGCONTEXT
     CONFIG += force_debug_info  # Enable debugging symbols on release builds
     !iOSBuild {
         CONFIG += ltcg              # Turn on link time code generation
diff --git a/src/ui/MAVLinkDecoder.cc b/src/ui/MAVLinkDecoder.cc
index 5b02b32b33b319e6347a33c0411ec611684c1b44..ff22edf6be8e308d1dd5cd5ee19eb2ad8d6db833 100644
--- a/src/ui/MAVLinkDecoder.cc
+++ b/src/ui/MAVLinkDecoder.cc
@@ -3,10 +3,9 @@
 
 #include <QDebug>
 
-MAVLinkDecoder::MAVLinkDecoder(MAVLinkProtocol* protocol, QObject *parent) :
-    QThread()
+MAVLinkDecoder::MAVLinkDecoder(MAVLinkProtocol* protocol) :
+    QThread(), creationThread(QThread::currentThread())
 {
-    Q_UNUSED(parent);
     // We're doing it wrong - because the Qt folks got the API wrong:
     // http://blog.qt.digia.com/blog/2010/06/17/youre-doing-it-wrong/
     moveToThread(this);
@@ -52,6 +51,7 @@ MAVLinkDecoder::MAVLinkDecoder(MAVLinkProtocol* protocol, QObject *parent) :
 //    textMessageFilter.insert(MAVLINK_MSG_ID_HIGHRES_IMU, false);
 
     connect(protocol, &MAVLinkProtocol::messageReceived, this, &MAVLinkDecoder::receiveMessage);
+    connect(this, &MAVLinkDecoder::finish, this, &QThread::quit);
 
     start(LowPriority);
 }
@@ -63,6 +63,7 @@ MAVLinkDecoder::MAVLinkDecoder(MAVLinkProtocol* protocol, QObject *parent) :
 void MAVLinkDecoder::run()
 {
     exec();
+    moveToThread(creationThread);
 }
 
 void MAVLinkDecoder::receiveMessage(LinkInterface* link,mavlink_message_t message)
diff --git a/src/ui/MAVLinkDecoder.h b/src/ui/MAVLinkDecoder.h
index eaa1909061e87b7fe57482b2ff22000c9ba4031a..ffe761f37e2bc48f061540a874d1209e2face131 100644
--- a/src/ui/MAVLinkDecoder.h
+++ b/src/ui/MAVLinkDecoder.h
@@ -8,13 +8,14 @@ class MAVLinkDecoder : public QThread
 {
     Q_OBJECT
 public:
-    MAVLinkDecoder(MAVLinkProtocol* protocol, QObject *parent = 0);
+    MAVLinkDecoder(MAVLinkProtocol* protocol);
 
     void run();
 
 signals:
     void textMessageReceived(int uasid, int componentid, int severity, const QString& text);
     void valueChanged(const int uasId, const QString& name, const QString& unit, const QVariant& value, const quint64 msec);
+    void finish(); ///< Trigger a thread safe shutdown
 
 public slots:
     /** @brief Receive one message from the protocol and decode it */
@@ -35,6 +36,7 @@ protected:
     quint64 onboardTimeOffset[cMessageIds];                 ///< Offset of onboard time from Unix epoch (of the receiving GCS)
     qint64 onboardToGCSUnixTimeOffsetAndDelay[cMessageIds]; ///< Offset of onboard time and GCS Unix time
     quint64 firstOnboardTime[cMessageIds];                  ///< First seen onboard time
+    QThread* creationThread;                                ///< QThread on which the object is created
 };
 
 #endif // MAVLINKDECODER_H
diff --git a/src/ui/MainWindow.cc b/src/ui/MainWindow.cc
index 6d925bc4635b3b55f147ffa3cffab8c14884fcc2..5b1fb93b48adfc58b6eca2b18411a22cc2577c95 100644
--- a/src/ui/MainWindow.cc
+++ b/src/ui/MainWindow.cc
@@ -274,6 +274,11 @@ MainWindow::MainWindow()
 
 MainWindow::~MainWindow()
 {
+    // Enforce thread-safe shutdown of the mavlink decoder
+    mavlinkDecoder->finish();
+    mavlinkDecoder->wait(1000);
+    mavlinkDecoder->deleteLater();
+
     // This needs to happen before we get into the QWidget dtor
     // otherwise  the QML engine reads freed data and tries to
     // destroy MainWindow a second time.
@@ -290,8 +295,7 @@ QString MainWindow::_getWindowGeometryKey()
 void MainWindow::_buildCommonWidgets(void)
 {
     // Add generic MAVLink decoder
-    // TODO: This is never deleted
-    mavlinkDecoder = new MAVLinkDecoder(qgcApp()->toolbox()->mavlinkProtocol(), this);
+    mavlinkDecoder = new MAVLinkDecoder(qgcApp()->toolbox()->mavlinkProtocol());
     connect(mavlinkDecoder.data(), &MAVLinkDecoder::valueChanged, this, &MainWindow::valueChanged);
 
     // Log player