A skydiver in a dive can get a good bit faster than 160-175.  They actually have
competitions where the skydiver wears a recording altimeter that shows rate of
descent, speed, etc and tries to go (down) faster than anyone else.  I've read
that the world record for speed in freefall (by a human) is 330 mph.

Although, it isn't really the same thing, but back in the early '60s, Col. Joe
Kittenger jumped from a ballon at a little over 100,000 feet.  He immediately
deployed a drogue chute, but still hit speeds over 600 mph.

Matt McManus
LNC2 360

Quoting Lorn H Olsen <lorn@dynacomm.ws>:

> In order to go faster, the sky diver has to put his arms behind him
> and go straight down headfirst. At this time his TV can reach up to
> 160 mph or possibly 175 mph.