So I’ve been wondering. Should I dump fuel before landing till it says I’m below the weight limit?
Cause I rarely ever do and just leave it as it is, should I dump fuel till it stops being orange? Does it affect anything with my landing performance?
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What do real life pilots do if there’s more left over fuel than they need?
(Posting after I landed)
You should dump fuel, it helps with the landing, otherwise you’ll be trying to land a giant brick.
Last week on FR24 I think, there was an aborted flight but plane can’t land immediately due to full tanks so it did a couple circuits to shed off some weight (fuel) before landing.
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Did you use AP+? Because there’s no way you’ll end up with significantly more fuel approaching your destination, especially on that 747. It’s best you dump the fuel.
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Dump fuel or if it’s not too much extra, real pilots do a hold (basically laps in a massive oval over a certain point) to burn some fuel.
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When the aircraft is over max landing weight, the autopilot approach won’t activate, to catch the ILS slope. At least in the A350- other aircraft I didn’t test this.
Fuel dump automatically stops when below max landing weight.
Honestly if you feel comfortable hand flying an ILS approach all the way from 3k AGL, and you are only <15% load above MLW, just fly the approach. I would fly the normal Vapp + 5/10 knots and if necessary +10-15% trim from your usual landing configuration.
I really do recommend hand flying an ILS approach all the way down in any scenario, as it really improves your control of the aircraft.
Just don’t let the realism police catch you or me. 
Also the mach cruise speed of a 747 should be at most .87, though normal operation typically have it at .86
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To prevent this from being a problem. If you are using Simbrief use fuel factor M05 to reduce your calculated route fuel by 5% or more as needed. However, before you do that you should file a FPL using CI as your cruise speed and fly your route not exceeding 90% N1 and see realistically how much fuel you burn in a realistic scenario.
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Of course you don’t have the fuel dump option for all aircraft.
I agree that’s good to practice occasionally.
An interesting thing as a control challenge (reality police can’t see) is to test landing (and taking off) at the maximum weight possible and see if you can keep smooth control and achieve a soft touchdown.
It proves to yourself you can handle any load.
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