Abstract The dynamic behaviour of rotating flexible bodies, such as turbine blades/exhaust fan blades are significantly different from those of stationary bodies as centrifugal force come into effect in addition to gravity. Such rotating blades may be modelled as cantilever beam / plate / panel. A finite element formulation for vibration analysis of rotating laminated composite panels is employed in this article; based on the first order shear deformation theory, an accurate relationship between strains and displacements of pre-twisted panels are derived. The governing equations of motion are derived considering centrifugal force. Here studied the effect of rotation speed (ω), setting angle (φ), twist angle (ψ), fibre orientation angle (θ) and variable thickness of panels on the vibration behaviour of cantilever composite panels. Also noticed the loci veering and loci crossing phenomena occurs between symmetric and skew-symmetric modes, respectively at different rotation speeds.