This paper presents a methodology for the precise registering of airborne laser data directly in flight with an accuracy that is sufficient for the majority of derived products, such as digital terrain models. We first present the strategy that integrates GPS/INS/LiDAR data for generating laser point clouds didrectly in flight and analyzes their accuracy. The latter requires the implementation of a functional covariance propagation on-line for all the system components (i.e. trajectory, laser, system calibration) to which influences of scanning geometry are added at the end of a light line. ...