The destruction of an Air India Boeing 747 over the Atlantic in 1985 in which 329 people died and in 1988 when a Pan Am 747 was brought down over Lockerbie, killing all 259 on board happened before the days of DNA testing.

18 "bodies" remained unidentified from PanAm101....

Earlier in 2009 Air France Flight 447, a scheduled commercial flight from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil to Paris, crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 216 passengers and 12 crew members on the 1st of June.

On 6th June, a search and rescue operation recovered two bodies and debris from the aircraft floating in the ocean 680 miles (1,090 km) northeast of the Fernando de Noronha islands off Brazil's northern coast. On 27th June the search for bodies and debris was called off, having recovered 51 bodies.

DNA analysis can help resolve questions of identity in these situations, and has been used on many occasions.