Discus CS overtakes paraglider on ridge; mid-air collision

Two pilots were fatally injured when a Discus CS and an Advance Sigma 7 paraglider collided in mid-air near the Galmihornhütte; glider destroyed, paraglider damaged. Weak thermals had concentrated soaring traffic in a narrow area above Münster airfield. After working figure-eights on the slope, the glider overtook the paraglider on its left at ~3× its speed, then turned right back across its path. The right wing struck the paraglider lines at ~140 m AGL. The glider yawed into a spinning descent; the partially collapsed paraglider settled with its pilot likely unconscious. Probable cause: overtaking turn with loss of visual contact.

1. Ridge soaring, dense traffic: The glider pilot released near the Risihorn and flew figure-eights on the ridge for ~54 minutes without gaining altitude, in an area crowded with ~18 aircraft, 10 within ~250 m vertically.
2. Mixed glider + paraglider area: Weak thermals had concentrated gliders and paragliders in the same small ridge area; the pre-flight briefing did not cover paraglider mixing, as an unusual concentration was not anticipated.
3. Paraglider climbs to glider level: The paraglider reached the ridge at ~2,200 m MSL, climbed ~135 m in a three-minute thermal, then flew on slightly above the glider, still flying figure-eights on the slope.
4. Overtake on left at ~3× speed: The glider passed the paraglider on its left, on a lower heading and about three times its speed — overtaking another aircraft at similar altitude, against the traffic rules.
5. Right turn back across path: Right after overtaking, the glider turned right back toward the paraglider, likely to start another figure-eight; the pilot had probably lost visual contact, and there was no room to evade.
6. Wing strikes lines; glider spins: The glider's right wing caught the paraglider's lines, yawing it into a spin-like rotation. The collision at ~140 m AGL left no margin to recover; the aft CG made recovery harder still.
7. Both pilots fatally injured: The glider struck the slope rotating and was destroyed, killing the pilot instantly. The paraglider's unconscious pilot survived the descent but died of asphyxia before rescuers arrived.