Date: 201503
Local time of day: 1201-1800
Location: ATL.Airport, GA
Aircraft: Regional Jet 900 (CRJ900)
Operator: Air Carrier
Operating under: Part 121
Flight plan: IFR
Flight phase: Takeoff / Launch
ATC / advisory: Tower ATL
Aircraft component: Cockpit Furnishing
Component problem: Malfunctioning
Reporter organization: Air Carrier
Reporter function: First Officer; Pilot Flying
Reporter qualification: Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Human factors: Confusion; Human-Machine Interface
Anomaly: Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown
Detector: Person Flight Crew
When detected: In-flight
Result: General None Reported / Taken
Contributing factors: Aircraft; Human Factors
Primary problem: Aircraft

Narrative: On takeoff roll; I was pilot-flying. While making minor corrections to maintain centerline; I started to notice the heel of my left shoe was rubbing the floor underneath the rudder pedals. I didn't remember that ever happening before; so I thought it was odd; but thought maybe I had just positioned my feet a little bit lower than usual on the rudder pedals; so I tried to slide my feet up the rudder pedals as much as I could without putting pressure on the toe brakes. The movement of the pedals was initially unrestricted; but somewhere; maybe 20 knots (purely a guess) below V1/VR; I applied a slight left rudder correction that I was unable to take back out. The airplane started to steer left of the centerline and I was initially unable to correct it; so I got pretty excited; and started to pull my left foot out of my shoe while snapping my right foot down to try to get some right rudder input in. That worked and the plane steered right; over-correcting a little bit; and I was able to get the plane back on centerline. It all happened very quickly; and about that time; we are at V1/VR; and under control so I rotated normally. When my foot got stuck; I think I said some kind of expletive; but it happened so quickly; I didn't really have time to understand the situation; much less to coherently state the situation to the captain. In retrospect; if I had been expecting it; or if the nose wheel would've gone more than a foot or two off of the centerline; I would've tried to say 'my foot's stuck; abort' --but by the time I processed what was happening; we were back under control; and ready to rotate. We got a few feet left of centerline; no more than on really gusty day; but the momentary loss of directional control was quite disconcerting. Once in the air; at a safe altitude; I started to talk over what had happened with the captain and I realized that the metal kick plate below the left rudder pedal was not secured to the floor and it was curved upward at its forward end; kind of like a skateboard quarter pipe. The kick plate was attached to the carpet; but the carpet was not attached to the structural floor of the aircraft. It was not readily apparent that anything was out of the ordinary because there was no gap between the kick plate and the carpet; even though the forward edge of the plate curved to be about 1.5 inches (again; purely a guess) above the structural floor. My heel slid easily forward; up the subtle bend; but got jammed when I tried to slide it back out. The captain and I both agreed that the most prudent thing to do was to transfer the controls to the captain and allow him to fly the approach and landing; to eliminate the possibility of having a similar incident on landing roll-out.I think the primary threat was that the kick plate was not properly secured and had become bent instead of being flat. My height is a contributing factor--I normally move the rudder pedals just about as far forward as they will go. A shorter pilot; or someone who doesn't adjust the rudder pedals so far forward would probably never notice the bent kick plate; because the rudder travel would not be sufficient enough to get past the forward edge of the kick plate. I think not immediately vocalizing my situation to the captain could have been an error; but I honestly wasn't sure what my situation was. I can definitely be more vigilant in checking the area around the rudder pedals and ensuring adequate clearance. I think the way we conduct aborted takeoffs works well; and I would not suggest changing any of the company procedures.




Synopsis: CRJ900 First Officer reports getting his foot caught on the metal skid plate under the rudder pedals during takeoff; causing a momentary loss of directional control. The plate was attached to the carpet but the carpet was not attached to the floor and foreword end of the plate was bent up allowing it to catch on the reporters' heel.