diff --git a/src/FirmwarePlugin/APM/APMFirmwarePlugin.cc b/src/FirmwarePlugin/APM/APMFirmwarePlugin.cc
index 3341c6b9c2ceb78de1e1fa6a08d743eda32c5b86..898e2c54488e096d3e1e593e1f9365941a1cc853 100644
--- a/src/FirmwarePlugin/APM/APMFirmwarePlugin.cc
+++ b/src/FirmwarePlugin/APM/APMFirmwarePlugin.cc
@@ -169,3 +169,15 @@ void APMFirmwarePlugin::adjustMavlinkMessage(mavlink_message_t* message)
 
     // FIXME: Need to implement mavlink message severity adjustment
 }
+
+void APMFirmwarePlugin::initializeVehicle(Vehicle* vehicle)
+{
+    // Streams are not started automatically on APM stack
+    vehicle->requestDataStream(MAV_DATA_STREAM_RAW_SENSORS,        2);
+    vehicle->requestDataStream(MAV_DATA_STREAM_EXTENDED_STATUS,    2);
+    vehicle->requestDataStream(MAV_DATA_STREAM_RC_CHANNELS,        2);
+    vehicle->requestDataStream(MAV_DATA_STREAM_POSITION,           3);
+    vehicle->requestDataStream(MAV_DATA_STREAM_EXTRA1,             10);
+    vehicle->requestDataStream(MAV_DATA_STREAM_EXTRA2,             10);
+    vehicle->requestDataStream(MAV_DATA_STREAM_EXTRA3,             3);
+}
diff --git a/src/FirmwarePlugin/APM/APMFirmwarePlugin.h b/src/FirmwarePlugin/APM/APMFirmwarePlugin.h
index 524a36f3850bee872d70fc5fbca5fd7aec62406d..6e798089bbf2fc32ea648a18a9d39456eb4104bf 100644
--- a/src/FirmwarePlugin/APM/APMFirmwarePlugin.h
+++ b/src/FirmwarePlugin/APM/APMFirmwarePlugin.h
@@ -37,7 +37,6 @@ class APMFirmwarePlugin : public FirmwarePlugin
     
 public:
     // Overrides from FirmwarePlugin
-    
     virtual bool isCapable(FirmwareCapabilities capabilities);
     virtual QList<VehicleComponent*> componentsForVehicle(AutoPilotPlugin* vehicle);
     virtual QStringList flightModes(void);
@@ -45,7 +44,8 @@ public:
     virtual bool setFlightMode(const QString& flightMode, uint8_t* base_mode, uint32_t* custom_mode);
     virtual int manualControlReservedButtonCount(void);
     virtual void adjustMavlinkMessage(mavlink_message_t* message);
-
+    virtual void initializeVehicle(Vehicle* vehicle);
+    
 private:
     /// All access to singleton is through AutoPilotPluginManager::instance
     APMFirmwarePlugin(QObject* parent = NULL);
diff --git a/src/FirmwarePlugin/FirmwarePlugin.h b/src/FirmwarePlugin/FirmwarePlugin.h
index c84a8ece94e9a9b6dd71726f495faeeb571bbfc5..3783c5a8db6b2576b7630836e2195a99273e7f5b 100644
--- a/src/FirmwarePlugin/FirmwarePlugin.h
+++ b/src/FirmwarePlugin/FirmwarePlugin.h
@@ -35,6 +35,8 @@
 #include <QList>
 #include <QString>
 
+class Vehicle;
+
 /// This is the base class for Firmware specific plugins
 ///
 /// The FirmwarePlugin class is the abstract base class which represents the methods and objects
@@ -92,6 +94,9 @@ public:
     ///     @param message[in,out] Mavlink message to adjust if needed.
     virtual void adjustMavlinkMessage(mavlink_message_t* message) = 0;
     
+    /// Called when Vehicle is first created to send any necessary mavlink messages to the firmware.
+    virtual void initializeVehicle(Vehicle* vehicle) = 0;
+    
 protected:
     FirmwarePlugin(QObject* parent = NULL) : QGCSingleton(parent) { }
 };
diff --git a/src/FirmwarePlugin/Generic/GenericFirmwarePlugin.cc b/src/FirmwarePlugin/Generic/GenericFirmwarePlugin.cc
index 5b11fdf1c3702b3974ec820b74d2ee1cae33fd40..910eba2f8ee99abbfb1794098be820df84b91e88 100644
--- a/src/FirmwarePlugin/Generic/GenericFirmwarePlugin.cc
+++ b/src/FirmwarePlugin/Generic/GenericFirmwarePlugin.cc
@@ -103,3 +103,10 @@ void GenericFirmwarePlugin::adjustMavlinkMessage(mavlink_message_t* message)
     
     // Generic plugin does no message adjustment
 }
+
+void GenericFirmwarePlugin::initializeVehicle(Vehicle* vehicle)
+{
+    Q_UNUSED(vehicle);
+    
+    // Generic Flight Stack is by definition "generic", so no extra work
+}
diff --git a/src/FirmwarePlugin/Generic/GenericFirmwarePlugin.h b/src/FirmwarePlugin/Generic/GenericFirmwarePlugin.h
index 505a3de3df34b2f3ba9cddbc31cf3ddcfd29d736..7b2634e4f6a313ba5e722fcf30f4ff03e39e6df5 100644
--- a/src/FirmwarePlugin/Generic/GenericFirmwarePlugin.h
+++ b/src/FirmwarePlugin/Generic/GenericFirmwarePlugin.h
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ public:
     virtual bool setFlightMode(const QString& flightMode, uint8_t* base_mode, uint32_t* custom_mode);
     virtual int manualControlReservedButtonCount(void);
     virtual void adjustMavlinkMessage(mavlink_message_t* message);
+    virtual void initializeVehicle(Vehicle* vehicle);
 
 private:
     /// All access to singleton is through AutoPilotPluginManager::instance
diff --git a/src/FirmwarePlugin/PX4/PX4FirmwarePlugin.cc b/src/FirmwarePlugin/PX4/PX4FirmwarePlugin.cc
index 731f7505675865b6dbf8b50a47d2e066630189d6..2a2de268b7f826e0f28e58c43886271c0be2be6f 100644
--- a/src/FirmwarePlugin/PX4/PX4FirmwarePlugin.cc
+++ b/src/FirmwarePlugin/PX4/PX4FirmwarePlugin.cc
@@ -193,3 +193,10 @@ bool PX4FirmwarePlugin::isCapable(FirmwareCapabilities capabilities)
 {
     return (capabilities & (MavCmdPreflightStorageCapability | SetFlightModeCapability)) == capabilities;
 }
+
+void PX4FirmwarePlugin::initializeVehicle(Vehicle* vehicle)
+{
+    Q_UNUSED(vehicle);
+    
+    // PX4 Flight Stack doesn't need to do any extra work
+}
diff --git a/src/FirmwarePlugin/PX4/PX4FirmwarePlugin.h b/src/FirmwarePlugin/PX4/PX4FirmwarePlugin.h
index 953842e595c2db0f7696f5b50443df6a7f4c2efe..f1400622b12812b1d9f197d9a58657433c8d2447 100644
--- a/src/FirmwarePlugin/PX4/PX4FirmwarePlugin.h
+++ b/src/FirmwarePlugin/PX4/PX4FirmwarePlugin.h
@@ -45,6 +45,7 @@ public:
     virtual bool setFlightMode(const QString& flightMode, uint8_t* base_mode, uint32_t* custom_mode);
     virtual int manualControlReservedButtonCount(void);
     virtual void adjustMavlinkMessage(mavlink_message_t* message);
+    virtual void initializeVehicle(Vehicle* vehicle);
 
 private:
     /// All access to singleton is through AutoPilotPluginManager::instance