IDENTIFYING REMAINS FROM LAOS TO TAKE TIME; FAMILY ANXIOUS TO LEARN OF MIA PILOT'S FATE.

Byline: David Bloom Daily News Staff Writer

It took the Laotian government some 27 years to figure out that they might have the remains of Air Force pilot Albro Lundy Jr.

On Friday, U.S. military officials said the Van Nuys man's family must wait again - perhaps for months or years - while scientists determine whether the remains are those of Lundy.

``It isn't easy,'' said Albro L. Lundy III, son of the flier and a Palos Verdes Estates attorney. ``But it's a process we have to go through.''

The Laotian government located the remains near where Lundy's A-1 plane was shot down in 1970, then turned them over in a ceremony Monday in Vientiane, Laos.

``They've never done this before,'' said Army Lt. Col. Roger King of the military's Joint Task Force - Full Recovery, in Hawaii. ``We had passed information to them because we had hit a dead end. They came back with these remains.''

The remains should arrive next week at the Army's Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. Then begins a testing process that may take a few months or a few years, said King.

Depending on what remains were turned over, the pathologists can turn to a variety of technologies that narrow down the identity of the body, even one left in the jungle for decades.

The easiest identification can be made if Lundy's dental records can be matched with distinctive markers, fillings or bridge work, King said.

DNA testing, analysis of bones and other techniques also can allow scientists to determine the size, ethnicity and genetic composition, King said. These techniques create a high level of certainty in the identification, King said.

When analysis is finished, an outside panel of forensic pathologists will review the findings. The soldier's family can hire its own experts to review and comment on the investigation before a review board makes a final determination.

Given that lengthy process and backlog of cases, Lundy said his family wants to hire a pathologist to speed up the process.

The family already has done DNA testing using hair from an old brush of the pilot's. If the right kinds of remains are turned over, pathologists could quickly match the DNA for a likely positive identification, the son said.

There already is a higher likelihood the remains are Lundy's, his son said, because the Laotian government said it also turned over Lundy's dog tags, a laminated ID card and a reward cloth sewn in the flight jacket called the ``blood chit.''

Military officials were cautious about concluding that the remains are Lundy's until the pathologists finish their painstaking work.

``We get (fake) dog tags all the time. There's all kinds of things floating around Southeast Asia,'' King said.

Lundy hopes to convince the government to move swiftly so that his family can finally put his father to rest.

``I'm going to see if I can press some buttons, especially if it's a full set of remains,'' Lundy said. ``There are ways to move this along.''