Editing Lockheed F-104 Starfighter (section)

===Normal operating hazards===
[[File:West German F-104 Starfighter.jpg|thumb|alt=West German F-104F parked on apron|A West German F-104F in 1960. In 1962 this aircraft crashed along with three others after a pilot error.]]

The causes of a large number of aircraft losses were the same as for any other similar type. They included: [[bird strike]]s and other foreign object damage (particularly to the engine), [[lightning strike]]s, pilot [[spatial disorientation]], and [[mid-air collision]]s with other aircraft.<ref name="Kropf2002pp165–173">Kropf 2002, pp. 165–163.</ref> One such accident occurred on 19&nbsp;June 1962 when a formation of four F-104F aircraft, practicing for the type's introduction-into-service ceremony the following day, crashed together after descending through a cloud bank. The pilot of the lead aircraft lost spatial orientation and was at too steep a nose-down angle to recover. Three German pilots and one American pilot were killed, and the four aircraft destroyed. As a result, formation aerobatic teams were immediately banned by the ''Luftwaffe''.<ref name="Kropf2002pp133–135">Kropf 2002, pp. 133–135.</ref>