Phiggbroadband
With this discussion you would think the crab is unique to an approach to landing?
Unless you are flying on a windless day you are crabbing all the time to maintain a track from A to B usually at altitude in far stronger winds than you get on the approach.
Ok for most the autopilot does that for you on those long legs you have it in nav mode so the poor autopilot and FD does the job for you but think about it
All you would do in a crab to land is what you would do for the earlier flight maintaining a track.
You would certainly not fly crossed controls leg A to B so that your heading and track are then the same regardless of a 50 kt X wind from the right at altitude!!! All the while accepting the extra drag that configuration would incur and the lower airspeed! Why change that down the approach ?
The only issue occurs when you need to change from the crab to align with the runway to land so the aircraft does not touch down sideways but really you are talking the last 10 feet that last 10 feet may require crossed controls then again if you get it right it won't.
the poor old autopilot will even do that for you down the ILS until you disconnect at maybe 200 feet.
it all smacks at an inability to deal with those last 10 feet!
I could equally ask you how do you fly on a 70 mile leg from A to B with a changing crosswind from the right while trying to maintain a track? Cross controls?
Pace