It is very important to select reasonable values of various operating parameters of airborne laser imaging radar (LIDAR), which are closely related to the measurement accuracy of airborne LIDAR. In order to obtain reasonable configuration values of various operating parameters, the three-dimensional (3D) coordinate errors of laser footprints from airborne LIDAR are deduced, and error factors and operating parameters affecting the positioning accuracy of the laser footprints are determined. Then, based on orthogonal experimental design, three levels of configuration values of various operating parameters are selected, respectively, and by cross combination, eighteen orthogonal experiments are designed. For each of the eighteen orthogonal experiments with different levels of configuration values of the operating parameters, the airborne laser scanning procedure are simulated, respectively, and the corresponding 3D coordinate errors of the laser footprints are calculated. By orthogonal experimental error analysis, the optimal configuration values of the operating parameters are obtained. Furthermore, the configuration characteristics and laws of various operating parameters are analyzed, which provide a theoretical guidance for improving the measurement accuracy of airborne LIDAR.