I don't think that would work very well. If the aircraft is already
lined up with the runway heading, using rudder to move the aircraft
laterally will cause you touchdown in a crab. You should use the
aileron to manuever the plan laterally and use the rudder to keep the
nose pointing to the runway heading, the same way you do in a cross
wind landing. If the runway is very long, add a little bit power when
you do this so you'll have a bit more time. If the runway is short and
you doubt that you can get it straighten out, go around.

The fear of banking the plane close to ground is misplaced. It's
actually easier to do a smoother touchdown when one wheel touches the
ground first, even if it's a bit firm. That's because a single wheel
firm touch-down will cause the plane to roll to the other direction (so
the other wheel will also touch shortly after), and that rolling motion
absorbs some of the energy caused by a firm touchdown and make it feels
less firm.

Mxsmanic wrote:


I know that the rudder can (and should?) be used to deal with
crosswinds, but I'm talking about landing in calm air and just being
an aircraft-width or so away from the centerline (which on narrow
runways or with large aircraft might mean one set of wheels on the
grass). As I get closer I'm afraid to roll the aircraft because a
wing might fall too low, or ground effect might do something
unpleasant, or something like that.

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