Dreadful stuff!! Sounds really dangerous to me. As far as I know FAs are not trained to constantly monitor cockpit gauges. Also the FA could have done something silly and there could have been developments leading to a thing called a "spin". (I read about this in a book called "Handling the Turboprops"). I really believe (you know, genuinely) that few FAs would know how to recover from a spin. There are aerodynamic forces involved in this condition that FAs know nothing about. All pilots should be aware just how dangerous the controls of an aeroplane really are. Clearly industry wide retraining of pilots is required. In fact we are talking about a lethal weapon - the Fokker 50 is well known to be impossible to fly and constantly on the edge of ....... terminal finality. Around 50 perfectly serviceable empty seats were put at direct risk. Also we really should be told how the FA got though security in the first place (another T5 glitch?). I blame this entire event on BALPA. Too busy worrying about BA to keep an eye on world affairs. Also, even though there were no passengers the FA should have been bringing coffee to the pilots to ensure a safe operation (was there even a safety report about this systemic failure?). This entire event reflects very badly on everybody. Except me. I run a professional operation with a total absence of bull****. Really. That is what allows me to make exceedingly wise pronouncements and observations here on PPRuNe about matters of great import.