I am a long haul fs'er - typically 12 to 14 hour flights. I will physically turn off monitors, but is it safe to have the OS shutdown hard drives and shutdown monitor in the power options with FS still cranking away?

I'm pretty sure that Windows won't spin down the hdd's if they are still being accessed.I guess you are saying that you'll take off and then leave the computer for a long period of time?

yep, I will fly for about two to three hours for the departure process, then leave it alone for eight hours. I will then do the final descent and landing.

OMG, I'm never riding in your plane with no pilot at the helm! LOL, j/k... Actually I do it this way as well; or I'll turn up the sim-rate to 2 or 4x for the oceanic portions of the flight.This usually works unless my two year old grabs the yoke when Daddy isn't around. Which has been happening more and more lately. She now knows two more words, "plane" and "crash" LOL...