Alan Schilke is an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

and roller coaster designer based in

Hayden, Idaho Hayden is a city in Kootenai County, Idaho, United States. Located in the northern portion of the state, it is a suburb of nearby Coeur d'Alene and its population was 15,570 at the 2020 census. History The origins of the city of Hayden has ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. He first made his mark on the industry by designing the

4th Dimension roller coaster A fourth-dimension roller coaster is a type of steel roller coaster whereby riders are rotated independently of the orientation of the track, generally about a horizontal axis that is perpendicular to the track. The cars do not necessarily nee ...

, X2, while working with

Arrow Dynamics Arrow Dynamics was an American manufacturing and engineering company that specialized in designing and building amusement park rides, especially roller coasters. Based in Clearfield, Utah, the company was the successor to Arrow Development (194 ...

. Schilke now works as a

design engineer A design engineer is an engineer focused on the engineering design process in any of the various engineering disciplines (including civil, mechanical, electrical, chemical, textiles, aerospace, nuclear, manufacturing, systems, and structural ...

at Ride Centerline LLC and occasionally works with

Rocky Mountain Construction Rocky Mountain Construction, often abbreviated as RMC, is a manufacturing and construction company based in Hayden, Idaho, United States. The company is best known for its I-Box track and Topper Track for wooden roller coasters. History In 20 ...

(RMC).

Career

Schilke worked with

for many years working his way up to the role of head engineer. During his time at Arrow Dynamics, Schilke was credited as the designer of '' Road Runner Express'' at

Six Flags Fiesta Texas Six Flags Fiesta Texas, formerly known simply as Fiesta Texas, is a theme park located in Northwest San Antonio. It opened on March 14, 1992, in the La Cantera master-planned development and district as the first business in that development. S ...

and '' Tennessee Tornado'' at

Dollywood Dollywood is a theme park jointly owned by entertainer Dolly Parton and Herschend Family Entertainment. It is located in the Knoxville metropolitan area in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, near the gateway to The Great Smoky Mountains. Hosting nearly ...

. Around the same time, Schilke came up with the concept of the

. This concept was criticised by his colleagues at Arrow Dynamics for being too extreme and impossible to engineer. The project only got off the ground when

Six Flags Six Flags Entertainment Corporation is an American amusement park corporation, headquartered in Arlington, Texas. It has properties in Canada, Mexico, and the United States. Six Flags owns the most theme parks and waterparks combined of any a ...

' President Gary Story asked the company to develop a scaled-down prototype. This then led to the design of '' X'' which was installed at

Six Flags Magic Mountain Six Flags Magic Mountain, formerly known and colloquially referred to as simply Magic Mountain, is a amusement park located in Valencia, California, northwest of downtown Los Angeles. It opened on May 29, 1971, as a development of the Newh ...

in 2001. In December 2001, Arrow Dynamics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, with the company being purchased by

S&S Worldwide S&S may refer to: *''Sense and Sensibility'', a novel by Jane Austen *'' Salt and Sanctuary'', a video game * Sword and sorcery, a subgenre of fantasy and historical fantasy *Simon & Schuster, a publisher *S&S Cycle S&S Cycle is an American motorcy ...

the following year. As part of the acquisition, Schilke (among many others) designed coasters for S&S Worldwide, heading up the wooden roller coaster division that produced four roller coasters in 2003 and 2004. In 2006, Schilke along with Ned Hansen founded Ride Centerline LLC, an independent engineering firm in Hyde Park, Utah. Schilke continued to work with S&S and is responsible for the outward banking turn found on the S&S

El Loco ''El Loco'' is the seventh studio album by the American rock band ZZ Top, released in 1981. The title means "The Madman" in Spanish. The band's guitarist/singer Billy Gibbons has said that the recording of this album was the first time the thre ...

coasters such as ''

Steel Hawg Steel Hawg is an orange and black roller coaster located at Indiana Beach, Monticello, Indiana. The ride is the first '' El Loco'' model built by manufacturer S&S Worldwide (now S&S – Sansei Technologies) of Logan, Utah. The ride was installed ...

'' at

Indiana Beach Indiana Beach is an amusement park located on Lake Shafer in Monticello, Indiana. The resort was developed by the Spackman family, who owned it from 1926 to 2008. The park was then sold to Morgan RV LLC, Apex Parks Group, LLC, and now is owned a ...

. In 2009 Schilke began providing design and engineering work for

, a company that specializes in the construction of roller coasters,

water park A water park (or waterpark, water world) is an amusement park that features water play areas such as swimming pools, water slides, splash pads, water playgrounds, and lazy rivers, as well as areas for floating, bathing, swimming, and other baref ...

s, steel buildings, miniature golf courses and go kart tracks. Schilke along with Rocky Mountain Construction founder Fred Grubb went on to design Iron Horse track (now known as I-Box track), an all-steel track replacement system for wooden roller coasters. The first installation of this track technology debuted on the ''

New Texas Giant New Texas Giant is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Over Texas in Arlington, Texas. It originally opened as Texas Giant, which was the tallest wooden roller coaster in the world when it debuted in 1990. Manufactured by Dinn Corpor ...

'' at

Six Flags Over Texas Six Flags Over Texas is a 212-acre (86 ha) amusement park, in Arlington, Texas, east of Fort Worth and west of Dallas. It is the first amusement park in the Six Flags chain, and features themed areas and attractions. The park opened on August 5, ...

in 2011. In addition to providing designs for the amusement industry, Schilke and Hansen have worked with the Oceana Energy Company on the design and patent of water turbines to harness power from rivers and ocean tides.

Projects

;As an employee of Arrow Dynamics: * Road Runner Express at

* Tennessee Tornado at

* X² at

;As an employee/consultant of S&S Arrow/S&S Worldwide: * Timberhawk: Ride of Prey at

Wild Waves Theme Park Wild Waves Theme & Water Park is an amusement park and water park in Federal Way, Washington. Opened in 1977 as The Enchanted Village (with its accompanying water park, Wild Waves, opening in 1984),''Washington State's Enchanted Parks Announces ...

* Falken at Fårup Sommerland * Avalanche at Timber Falls Adventure Park *

Hell Cat Hell Cat is a wooden roller coaster designed and built by S&S Power located at Clementon Amusement Park. The coaster is 2,602 feet long and debuted late in the operating park season in 2004. Its first drop is 105 feet and can take its riders ...

Clementon Amusement Park Clementon Park and Splash World is a mid-sized combination theme park and water park in Clementon, Camden County, New Jersey, United States. Also known as Clementon Lake Park, it is one of the world's oldest operating amusement parks and is one o ...

* Eejanaika at

Fuji-Q Highland is an amusement park in Fujiyoshida, Yamanashi, Japan, owned and operated by the namesake Fuji Kyuko Co. it was opened on 2 March 1968. The theme park is near the base of Mount Fuji. It has a number of roller coasters, as well as two haun ...

;As a consultant to Rocky Mountain Construction: *

Outlaw Run Outlaw Run is a wooden roller coaster located at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri. Designed by Alan Schilke, Outlaw Run is the first wooden roller coaster manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC) and became the first wooden coast ...

Silver Dollar City Silver Dollar City is a amusement park in Stone County, Missouri, near the cities of Branson and Branson West. The park is located off of Missouri Route 76 on the Indian Point peninsula of Table Rock Lake. Silver Dollar City opened on May 1 ...

* Iron Rattler at

* Goliath at

Six Flags Great America Six Flags Great America is a amusement park located in Gurnee, Illinois, within the northern Chicago metropolitan area. The amusement park originally opened as Marriott's Great America on May 29, 1976, as one of two theme parks built by the ...

* Medusa Steel Coaster at

Six Flags Mexico 6 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 6 or six may also refer to: * AD 6, the sixth year of the AD era * 6 BC, the sixth year before the AD era * The month of June Science * Carbon, the element with atomic number 6 * 6 Hebe, an asteroid Peop ...

* Twisted Colossus at

Wicked Cyclone Wicked Cyclone (formerly Cyclone) is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags New England amusement park. The ride originally opened as a wooden roller coaster named Cyclone on June 24, 1983. Its name and design were inspired by the historic ...

Six Flags New England Six Flags New England, formerly known as Gallup's Grove (1870–1886), Riverside Grove (1887–1911), Riverside Park (1912–1995) and Riverside: The Great Escape (1996–2000), is an amusement park located in Agawam, Massachusetts, a western s ...

The Joker The Joker is a supervillain appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by Bill Finger, Bob Kane, and Jerry Robinson, and first appeared in the debut issue of the comic book '' Batman'' on April 25, 1 ...

Six Flags Discovery Kingdom Six Flags Discovery Kingdom (formerly known as Six Flags Marine World, Marine World, The New Marine World Theme Park, and Marine World Africa USA) is a 135-acre (55 ha) animal theme park located in Vallejo, California, off of Interstate 80 ...

* Storm Chaser at

Kentucky Kingdom Kentucky Kingdom, formerly known as Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, is an amusement park in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The park includes a collection of amusement rides and the Hurricane Bay water park. Kentucky Kingdom is located at the ...

Lightning Rod A lightning rod or lightning conductor (British English) is a metal rod mounted on a structure and intended to protect the structure from a lightning strike. If lightning hits the structure, it will preferentially strike the rod and be conducte ...

Wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identi ...

at Kolmarden Wildlife Park *

Steel Vengeance Steel Vengeance, formerly known as Mean Streak, is a steel roller coaster at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. The roller coaster, originally constructed by Dinn Corporation as a wooden roller coaster, was rebuilt by Rocky Mountain Construction ( ...

at Cedar Point *

Twisted Timbers Twisted Timbers is a steel roller coaster located at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Virginia. It originally opened as a wooden coaster named Hurler in 1994, designed and manufactured by International Coasters, Inc., with a name and layout that matc ...

Kings Dominion Kings Dominion is an amusement park located in Doswell, Virginia, north of Richmond and south of Washington, D.C. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park opened to the public on May 3, 1975, and features more than 60 rides, shows and att ...

* Wonder Woman Golden Lasso Coaster at

* RailBlazer at California's Great America *

Twisted Cyclone Twisted Cyclone, formerly known as Georgia Cyclone, is a steel roller coaster located at Six Flags Over Georgia in Austell, Georgia. Manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC), the ride opened to the public on May 25, 2018. It features RM ...

Six Flags Over Georgia Six Flags Over Georgia is a theme park located in Mableton, Georgia. Opened in 1967, it is the second park in the Six Flags chain following the original Six Flags Over Texas, which opened in 1961. Six Flags Over Georgia is one of three park ...

* Untamed at

Walibi Holland Walibi Holland (previously called Flevohof, Walibi Flevo, Six Flags Holland and Walibi World) is a theme park in Biddinghuizen, Netherlands. History The park was opened in 1971 as 'Flevohof'. It was an educational theme park themed after agricu ...

* Hakugei at

Nagashima Spa Land is an amusement park in Kuwana, Mie, Japan. It features several roller coasters, thrill rides, and kid rides, a giant Ferris wheel, a water park, and 3 official hotels. As of 2012, Nagashima Spa Land is the 18th most visited amusement park i ...

* Zadra at

Energylandia Energylandia is an amusement park in Poland. It is located in Zator in Lesser Poland, which is in southern Poland. It is approximately away from Kraków Kraków (), or Cracow, is the second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland ...

Iron Gwazi Iron Gwazi (formerly Gwazi) is a steel-track hybrid roller coaster at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, a theme park in Tampa, Florida, United States. The ride, named after a fabled creature with a tiger's head and a lion's body, was built by Great Coa ...

Busch Gardens Tampa Bay Busch Gardens Tampa Bay is a animal theme park located in Tampa, Florida, United States, with the entire park landscaped and designed around themes of Africa and Asia. Owned and operated by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment, the park opened on Ju ...

Jersey Devil Coaster The Jersey Devil Coaster is a single-rail roller coaster located at Six Flags Great Adventure in Jackson Township, New Jersey. The roller coaster was built by Rocky Mountain Construction (RMC). It is themed to the Jersey Devil, a mythical creat ...

at Six Flags Great Adventure *

Stunt Pilot Stunt flying refers to any stunts performed in an aircraft. It encompasses aerobatics, wing walking, and transferring from one airplane to another or to a moving vehicle on the ground, such as an automobile or train, and vice versa. History From th ...

Silverwood Theme Park Silverwood Theme Park is an amusement park located in the city of Athol in northern Idaho, United States, near the town of Coeur d'Alene, approximately from Spokane, Washington on US 95. Owner Gary Norton opened the park on June 20, 198 ...

References

External links

Alan Schilke
on the

Roller Coaster DataBase Roller Coaster DataBase (RCDB) is a roller coaster and amusement park database begun in 1996 by Duane Marden. It has grown to feature statistics and pictures of over 10,000 roller coasters from around the world. Publications that have mentioned ...

;Patents
Amusement rides and methods (US6523479)

Rolling Vehicle Track (US20110146528)

Improved rolling vehicle track (EP2475441 A1)

System for generating electricity from fluid currents (EP2024636 A2)

System for generating electricity from fluid currents (US7453166)

System for generating electricity from fluid currents (US7604454)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schilke, Alan 21st-century American engineers Roller coaster designers Rocky Mountain Construction Living people People from Hayden, Idaho 1961 births 21st-century American inventors