Steve Foley writes:

Try it in a 172. You CAN turn with rudder only. It's not coordinated, but it
still turns.

If I _hold_ the rudder, I do indeed enter a turn. But I've been
trying (perhaps incorrectly) to just apply it briefly just above the
runway in order to improve my alignment. It works, but only until I
release the rudder, at which point it snaps back. If I hold the
rudder long, the turn becomes more persistent, but then the aircraft
starts to roll, which is what I'm trying to avoid in the first place
when I'm only 30-50 feet above the runway.

I'll grant that I've been trying some truly reckless approaches that
would be unthinkable in real life, standing the aircraft on one wing a
few hundred feet from the threshold, coming in at a 45° angle, and
then trying to align. But I figure that if I can do that to any
extent, then more serious approaches should be all that much easier.
Obviously if I start ten miles out, it's not a problem to be right
down the centerline if the weather isn't too bad. These wild
maneuvers are the kinds of things you can do safely only in
simulation. Surprisingly, there aren't too many crashes, despite the
recklessness of it all.

Plus I get impatient waiting for the next airport to draw near. I've
found that Hawaii seems to have a ton of little airstrips that are
good for touch-and-go practice. Today I discovered that Heathrow and
London City Airport are rather conveniently placed for alternating
touch-and-go practice between them without too many wild approaches.

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