It worked for Sully - commit to landing "out", pick the landing site (preferably a field, not the Hudson) and fly a circuit/approach looking out of the canopy and judging speed and height by the mark one eyeball. A lot safer than the PFLs described above.
Well Sully wasn't exactly committed to making the threshold of a runway! I know there were some obstructions on the Hudson, but he 'simply' had to fly Green Dot speed until he arrived at 70ft or so over the water. Admittedly he didn't hold it off too long and stall as often happens, but I'm not sure he was using the constant sightline technique!
If we did always avoid putting ourselves in a position where, if we opened a closed throttle and
The engine splutters and dies.
then we'd be only doing aeros in the overhead of the field! The art of safely landing an engineless aircraft has always been taught during RAF pilot training. For any given type there are specific 'gates' (i.e. min speeds, max bank etc) to be met/maintained to ensure a safe outcome is likely. Admittedly if you had a seat you could always level the wings, convert speed for less RoD and jump out, but as a QFI I was expected to be able to make a sensible attempt at flying a turn back in the Tucano. I didn't always manage to get them in (back onto a rwy), and occasionally you'd completely misjudge it, but you knew what speed/bank/load/height combination were to be avoided and hence when to throw a practice away.