I don't have P3D of any kind, however, I have found numerous posts that pretty much say that AICarriers.exe (The original version, by Lamont Clark) doesn't work in any P3D version above P3Dv3.
You need to use Orion Lau's AICarriers.NET for that. I have also seen evidence that it needs to be installed within the P3D directory structure to function properly.
It can be started with the EXE.XML, but I understand P3D has 2 different copies, and the correct one must be used to "auto-start" AICarriers.
Just a small side note: When adding carriers/formations to AICarriers, don't use the default, included, aicarriers.cfg file to add things to. Always make a separate, individual, .cfg file for the additional ships/formations, and place it in the conf.d folder.
Also, to prevent the menus from becoming bloated and unwieldy with too many ships/formations, only place the .cfg file containing the desired ships/formations into the conf.d folder one at a time. Save all the others in a sub-folder. That way you can easily find the ship/formation' .cfg file you desire to utilize, instead of have to page through dozens of menu pages to find the one you want.
Just swap out the .cfg file previously in the conf.d folder for the desired one. If you want to do this while AIC is running, you must stop AICarriers.NET, change the .cfg file in the conf.d folder, then start it again manually.
AICarriers.net may also be used, by the way, to place hoistable "sling loads" for helicopters and the MV-22. Just adds another dimension to the sim
Have fun with it!
Pat☺