An A320 first officer reported finding a partially full water bottle behind the rudder pedals. The b...

Narrative:

Prior to takeoff; while looking for something I dropped; I shone a flashlight beyond the rudder pedals (first officer side) and discovered a 3/4 full water bottle beyond the rudder pedals. Someone must have dropped a water bottle on the floor and it rolled past the rudder pedals toward the aircraft nose. I have no idea how long it had been there. (It was not my bottle.)this event causes me alarm. It is not the first time I have found objects beyond the rudder pedals; but most of the time they are small items; like pens; paper; etc. What might have happened had the water bottle begun rolling around; potentially lodging in the rudder pedals? It could be especially catastrophic on takeoff (or landing). And in the event of a catastrophic event; would crash investigators ever discover the cause? I suggest some barrier be mounted on the floorboard to prevent recurrence.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A320 First Officer reported finding a partially full water bottle behind the rudder pedals. The bottle could have interfered with rudder movement and had apparently been in that location for a period of time.

Narrative: Prior to takeoff; while looking for something I dropped; I shone a flashlight beyond the rudder pedals (First Officer side) and discovered a 3/4 full water bottle beyond the rudder pedals. Someone must have dropped a water bottle on the floor and it rolled past the rudder pedals toward the aircraft nose. I have no idea how long it had been there. (It was not my bottle.)This event causes me alarm. It is not the first time I have found objects beyond the rudder pedals; but most of the time they are small items; like pens; paper; etc. What might have happened had the water bottle begun rolling around; potentially lodging in the rudder pedals? It could be especially catastrophic on takeoff (or landing). And in the event of a catastrophic event; would crash investigators ever discover the cause? I suggest some barrier be mounted on the floorboard to prevent recurrence.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of July 2013 and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Attributes
ACN	1111307
Time
Date	201308
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	A320
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Taxi
Person 1
Function	First Officer
Qualification	Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural Other / Unknown

An A320 first officer reported finding a partially full water bottle behind the rudder pedals. The bottle could have interfered with rudder movement and had apparently been in that location for a period of time.