WASHINGTON (AFX) - After-tax corporate profits fell 7.1 pct in the third quarter, the Commerce Department said. This is the fourth straight quarterly decline in corporate profits marking the longest consecutive period of profit declines since the fourth quarter of 1997 through to the first quarter of 1999. Several special factors related to Sept 11 terrorist attacks affected the deeper decline in corporate profits, the department said. Profits were reduced by insurance payments associated to the Sept 11 attacks while airline profits were boosted by the federal subsidy for the industry passed by Congress. In the second quarter, corporate profits rose 1.7 pct, unrevised from the previous estimate. Pre-tax operating profits fell 7.9 pct in the third quarter, compared with a 2.3 pct fall in the second quarter. Net cash flow rose 1.4 pct in the third quarter, compared with a 0.7 pct fall in the second quarter. Corporate profits with inventory valuation and capital consumption adjustments fell 8.3 pct in the third quarter after a 3.8 pct fall in the second quarter.