Glad to hear that it all worked out fine. You have demonstrated that Hannover is still an excellent GA destination even for those who hail from abroad and are unaccustomed to the local procedures. It is a largely “hassle free” H24 IFR Airport, of which there aren’t many in Central Europe.
Certain an excellent point of entry if hailing from the UK or otherwise outside Schengen an planning to visit Northern or Central Germany.
Started from home base, which is EGSG in South East UK. Customs stop in & out was EHSE Breda/Seppe in NL – which became an overnight stop on the way back due to bad weather over the channel. Lovely dinner at Restaurant De Haard and gorgeous wx the following morning, so it was a good delay!
I had planned to do each journeys in 3 legs, to visit some small German airfields too (e.g. EDWO or EDVM). However last-minute changes to timings & weather meant we decided to press on and do them in 2 legs instead. Next time!
Nice! Where did you fly from?
Got back from this trip yesterday, it was great! We had some marginal weather legs, but also some beautiful ones. Thanks to everyone who posted advice 
I learned a huge amount about how things work in practice w.r.t. European FIS’s & cross-border/cross-Schengen flights rather than just in theory. E.g. what happens if you cancel your exit flight after you’ve already been “stamped out” by customs. Admittedly this is a sample size of 1, but still it makes me feel more relaxed if I was in the same situation again.
As you all have said, Hannover was very chilled out for an airport of its size. In fact, so chilled out that it was a little disconcerting! Departure instructions were basically “cleared for takeoff, go west” – when I am surrounded by big jets, I expect to have to be on my best behaviour with an assigned heading, level & squawk 
MichaLSA wrote:
they tend to not clear foreigners for 27C.
I only saw this message after I got back, but yes – that was my experience. I landed 27L while a local Cessna was doing circuits on 27C. No complaints as it was fun to use the gigantic runway, and good practice dealing with a ground controller & more complicated taxi instructions.
Not many pics but here’s one of the big boys taking off after a heavy shower on a 100% wet runway:
I got mostly 09C with easterly wind directions to prevent long taxi times.
Thanks MichaLSA! I went there IFR so 27C was not an option (and with the DA42 I would have not picked that one anyway ;)). That day I saw a couple other small planes and they also landied on the longer runway, that’s why I wondered. But it was not super busy at that moment.
NicoKM wrote:
Taxi was easy, you just get cleared to cross the short 27C that I wonder if it’s ever used.
It is used frequently on a regular basis. EDDV is one of my favourite destinations and definitely on my Top 3 CTR in Germany.
As TWR is often not familiar with neither pilots skills nor aircraft performance data they tend to not clear foreigners for 27C. With three parallel runways you don’t long for a go around in the middle with airliners right and left of it ;-). There is a simple way to get cleared to land runway 27C, at initial call just add ‘27 Charlie ok’ and usually you’ll get it. Of course, only if you are comfortable with 550 meters of tarmac and crossing taxiways right behind on both ends with airliner traffic on it.
Saw this only now.
EDDV was a great experience for me. My report is in the database.
I called them once to check whether they were IFR slot coordinated and they said no.
I simply filed a flight plan and went there on an DA42. Approach asked me which runway 27 and approach I wanted, and I chose 27R that seemed closer to the GA terminal. Taxi was easy, you just get cleared to cross the short 27C that I wonder if it’s ever used.
Everything smooth also on the ground with friendly people, and very cheap landing fee for a commercial airport.
HX means “irregular hours”. You can’t be sure any activation mentioned in NOTAMs. Check with INFO.
SteakAndAle wrote:
Thanks for all the tips, much appreciated! One last question then, re. the sector of the CTR West of Wunstorf: this is noted as “HX”, which I haven’t seen before – does this imply that its hours will be notified via NOTAM? or is there another mechanism?
Afaik the CTR is mostly active during the opening hours of Wunstorf ETNW. Taken from the MIL AIP Germany= these are
MON – THU 0700 – 1600 ++
FRI 0700 – 1100 ++
HOL CLSD
The best way to make sure is to ask Langen FIS on 125.100 area before crossing the CTR. Many pilots will simply fly around it, it’s not inconveniently large.
