Aai Corp

Shares of United Industrial Corp. tumbled more than 20 percent yesterday after the Hunt Valley company reported first-quarter profit down nearly one-third from a year ago. While the manufacturer of unmanned aerial vehicles and aircraft training simulators saw a 28 percent increase in revenue for the quarter, officials blamed the sharp drop in profit on a property sale a year ago that boosted earnings. Excluding the one-time gain, the company missed analysts' forecasts by 5 cents a share.

The employees of AAI Corp. were supposed to be working for somebody else by now. The unmanned airplanes and computerized simulators they make - all prized by the modern military - are the envy of gobs of potential buyers, and AAI's bosses have been eager to make a deal. Last August, when management pledged to "intensify and accelerate" efforts to sell, analysts figured the only step left was to sign the papers and count the cash. But AAI does not have a new owner this year, despite the expectations, and no one is likely to buy it anytime soon.

IT'S EASY for states to thrive in good times, James T. Brady used to say when he was Maryland's secretary of business and economic development. Bad times are when state economies show their mettle. By that measure, the Maryland of 2003 is a trouper. While the nation continues to lose jobs, Maryland is gaining jobs. The national unemployment rate is 6 percent. Maryland's is 4.4 percent. Maryland is outperforming all its immediate neighbors, including its commercial arch-foe, Virginia. Employment has been falling in Virginia, Delaware, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, although Virginia did tick up in April.

AAI Corp. is planning to sell 26 acres of undeveloped land next to its Hunt Valley headquarters for $8 million, part of its parent company's move to cash in on assets not related to the defense industry. The military contractor, best known for its unmanned aircraft, said yesterday that it has a buyer who did not want to be identified before the land sale is final. That is expected by Jan. 14, contingent on the results of a feasibility study of the property. "It was an unused asset," said Jim Linse, a spokesman for AAI and its parent company, United Industrial Corp.

AAI Corp., the Hunt Valley company known for its Shadow spy plane, notified 50 employees Thursday that they are being laid off in the next two weeks. Anna-Maria Palmer, AAI's vice president of human resources, said Thursday that those positions were being eliminated to reduce job overlaps and to be more efficient. AAI employs 1,600 workers in Hunt Valley. Palmer said affected workers were encouraged to apply for 40 job openings in Hunt Valley as well as 140 openings at AAI offices throughout the country.

Mary M. Courtney, a retired AAI Corp. buyer, died Thursday of complications from Alzheimer's disease at Long View Nursing Home in Manchester. The Cockeysville resident was 83. Born Mary Miller in Baltimore, she was raised in Sparks and was a 1934 graduate of the old Sparks High School. During World War II, she worked at Black & Decker Corp. in Towson and later was a buyer for AAI in Cockeysville. She retired in 1985. Her husband of nearly 35 years, Leslie Earl Courtney, died in 1978. Mrs. Courtney enjoyed playing golf and entertaining.

Nine months ago AAI Corp. was in a death spiral. Earnings were plunging, more than 2,000 jobs had been eliminated, the company's president had resigned under fire and hostile shareholders were demanding that the firm be sold while there ** was something to salvage.So why would Richard R. Erke neff take the job as chief executive of the Cockeysville-based defense contractor when its parent company, United Industrial Corp., came calling?"I really didn't know all the details [of AAI's problems]

AAI Corp. took a major step yesterday toward lessening its dependence on military contracts by entering into an agreement to acquire Microflite Simulation International Corp.Microflite, based in Binghamton, N.Y., is a manufacturer of flight simulators used to train commercial pilots. The purchase price was not disclosed.Paul J. Michaud, vice president and chief financial officer of AAI, said that Microflite could boost AAI's commercial sales to 40 percent of its business within the next few years.

Edward T. Kusterer, a retired mechanical engineer and World War II veteran, died April 4 of heart failure at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. He was 94. Mr. Kusterer was born in Richmond, Va., and moved to the city's Pimlico neighborhood in 1918. He was a 1934 graduate of Calvert Hall College High School. He was working as a bank teller at the old Maryland Trust Co. on Eutaw Street when he was drafted in 1941 into the Army Air Corps. After being commissioned a second lieutenant, he joined the 99th Bomb Group, 346th Squadron in Oran, Algeria.