B737 maximum 8 captain reported over 50 sheets of paper were found underneath the center pedestal; w...

Narrative:

At the gate in ZZZ; I noticed there was no tape on the center pedestal gap. The tape is supposed to stop paper from slipping through a gap and ending down under the pedestal. I knew I had just read in a safety notice that maintenance would be correcting the problem. I called maintenance and told them there was no tape on the pedestal to block the gap and to see if they could send out a maintainer; and they said they could. They also said they knew of no requirement for the tape or that there was even a need for it.when arriving at the aircraft I discussed the issue and the maintainer said they were not familiar with the problem. I said I had called the chief pilot on call and he was trying to find the article I had read; since he had also just recently read it. I asked the maintainer to open the panel. He did and we were both glad that he did. For the next five minutes; he pulled over 50 sheets of paper out from the pedestal wiring and others stuck against the pedestal framing. Many sheets were brown from heat and brittle. I then noticed that the panel he removed actually had tape on it. Scotch tape that had been broken; allowing sheets to slip under the panel. The maintainer took a picture of the emptied area. He then taped the area with a black tape the looked like duck-tape but thinner. He took the papers to show his supervisor.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B737 MAX 8 Captain reported over 50 sheets of paper were found underneath the center pedestal; which had slipped through a gap that is usually taped over.

Narrative: At the gate in ZZZ; I noticed there was no tape on the center Pedestal Gap. The tape is supposed to stop paper from slipping through a gap and ending down under the pedestal. I knew I had just read in a Safety Notice that Maintenance would be correcting the problem. I called Maintenance and told them there was no tape on the pedestal to block the gap and to see if they could send out a Maintainer; and they said they could. They also said they knew of no requirement for the tape or that there was even a need for it.When arriving at the aircraft I discussed the issue and the Maintainer said they were not familiar with the problem. I said I had called the Chief Pilot on Call and he was trying to find the article I had read; since he had also just recently read it. I asked the Maintainer to open the panel. He did and we were both glad that he did. For the next five minutes; he pulled over 50 sheets of paper out from the pedestal wiring and others stuck against the pedestal framing. Many sheets were brown from heat and brittle. I then noticed that the panel he removed actually had tape on it. Scotch tape that had been broken; allowing sheets to slip under the panel. The Maintainer took a picture of the emptied area. He then taped the area with a black tape the looked like Duck-tape but thinner. He took the papers to show his supervisor.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site 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	1615246
Time
Date	201901
Local Time Of Day	0601-1200
Place
Locale Reference	ZZZ.Airport
State Reference	US
Environment
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	B737-800
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 121
Flight Phase	Parked
Flight Plan	IFR
Component
Aircraft Component	Aircraft Furnishing
Person 1
Function	Captain Pilot Not Flying
Qualification	Flight Crew Multiengine Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 554 Flight Crew Type 14200
Events
Anomaly	Aircraft Equipment Problem Less Severe Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy

B737 maximum 8 captain reported over 50 sheets of paper were found underneath the center pedestal; which had slipped through a gap that is usually taped over.