The present disclosure provides methods for identifying early stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who will have an unfavorable prognosis for the recurrence of lung cancer after surgical resection. The methods are based in part on the discovery of chromosomal copy number abnormalities that can be used for prognostic classification. The methods preferably use fluorescence in situ hybridization with fluorescently labeled nucleic acid probes to hybridize to patient samples to quantify the chromosomal copy number of these genetic loci.