Mechanical Engineering Overview - Overview PDF - PowerPoint - Podcast

	MS, Mechanical Engineering, Ohio State University Honors Diploma, Moscow Automobile & Road Construction Institute (mechanical design, automotive & transportation equipment)
	Principal Mechanical Engineer, designing rides and equipment for Disney theme parks, and evaluating and making improvements in existing rides and facilities.
	Alex started his career working on automotive, mining, and robotics equipment -- but the same basic skills and knowledge apply to his work on roller coasters.
	"Go into engineering only if you really have a calling to be an engineer -- if you like to build things, if you get real satisfaction of seeing something built from your idea, or built by your own hands. If you are that kind of person, I think engineering is right for you."

"I'm a mechanical engineer working for Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale, California. And my title is principal mechanical engineer. What my job is, to design rides, rides for Disney theme parks and equip them for these rides, rides and attractions. I worked on many rides and attractions. One of the first rides I worked on was Splash Mountain at Disneyland. It was just finished at the time I was hired and I was drafted to work on this ride, to debug it, and to improve certain components and add certain features to it. I had to take quite a bit of data on the Space Mountain at Disneyland, which is a roller coaster. To take this data, we had a three axis accelerometer at strategic points in the vehicle and we had a small computer take the data. I had to ride the roller coaster all night, which is fun when you do it, it's fun when you do it once or twice but all night, it's a little bit tough."

"I think this job brings a lot of satisfaction. And the most satisfaction I get when I go to the park, either Disneyland or in Florida and I see people using rides and going on rides I worked on, and you can see happy faces. And some-times I take my kids to Disneyland and we go on one attraction or the other. And they know that I worked on it and I did this or that, and it's very satisfying to see your things actually built and working."

Q: And what's involved in being a principal mechanical engineer?
Burkatt: What my job is, is to design rides and attractions for Disney theme parks and equip the parks for these rides and attractions.

Q: Tell us about some of the rides and attractions that you built.
Burkatt: I worked on many rides and attractions. One of the first rides I worked on was Splash Mountain at Disneyland. It was just finished at the time I was hired and I was drafted to work on this ride, to debug it, improve certain components, and add certain features to it. So it was very good experience, my first experience with Disney. And what was very helpful, I worked in a park environment and I learned to appreciate that environment and the interaction between the maintenance people, operations, and guests.

Q: And so what was involved in working with the Splash Mountain, the testing of these things? Was it fun?
Burkatt: It was fun. It was very challenging, very interesting, because I never worked on anything like that. It's a water ride. So you have boats -- we call them "logs" -- which go up the mountain, up to the very top. They drive there by conveyor, with guests in them and then you float them in a flume and eventually the boat goes down. There are several drops and one -- we call it "Big Drop" -- is pretty big. So, the first time you go there, you're very high at the top of the mountain. You can see the whole park and then you go down. So, what we had to do, we had to improve the capacity of the ride and there were a few things we needed to improve. That basically was my first job with Disney. I had some small jobs, and after that, I worked on redesigning the seat-belt mechanism for simulator rides. Talking about simulator rides -- basically what it is, it's a flight simulator adapted to an amusement park environment. You can find them at Disneyland, and at Disney World in Florida and in France. Common names for them are "Space Mode" and "Space Starters." Also a similar seat-belt mechanism is used on "Indiana Jones." We had an existing mechanism at the time and it was working, but not exactly satisfactorily. So the decision was made to redesign it, and make sure it fit into existing constraints and the existing packaging. So I worked on it for about a year, because we had to outfit all our simulators, which are quite a few, all over the world. I made designs and built prototypes. We installed prototypes at Disneyland and at Disney World in Florida, did extensive testing to make sure that it was working quietly, and debugged it. It eventually went into production and we installed them on all our simulators. And so, we think it is very satisfactory and I have a patent on this mechanism.

Q: What's involved in getting a patent?
Burkatt: When you work for a company like Disney, it's relatively easy. You have your design. Then you make a description of this design and the company applies for a patent. So it's done through the company, which kind of shields you from all this paperwork which is really extensive, and it takes about two years.

Q: Well, how does it feel to have a patent?
Burkatt: Satisfactory, yes. It means you designed something and it's yours. And another thing, you go to the park and you see people using it and you know it's your design so it's very gratifying.

Q: Where did you start your education? Tell us about that progression from when you first went to university and how you got into the U.S. and then from then on.
Burkatt: I was born in Russia, in Moscow, and it's where I went to college and got my Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. I worked for a couple of years and then immigrated to the United States. I worked here for a couple of years and I felt like I would like to get more education, more knowledge, more background, and I went to Ohio State University at Columbus, Ohio to graduate school and graduated in '87 with a Master of Science degree. And I got two jobs here in California. I had another job, a previous job, before I began working for Disney. And since then, I got my P.E. license, Professional Engineer license, and I attended quite a few classes and seminars. Basically, every year I make sure I can attend either a class or a training seminar to keep up to speed.

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