The invention discloses a fan blade autonomous inspection method based on an unmanned aerial vehicle. The method comprises the following steps that S1, determining whether the geometric structure of ato-be-inspected fan is known, if yes, entering the step S2, if not, entering the step S3; S2, carrying out image shooting on a to-be-inspected fan, determining coordinate information of a plurality of inspection points on the fan in combination with the geometric structure of the to-be-inspected fan, and entering the step S4, the inspection points being target points shot during inspection; S3, carrying out image shooting on the to-be-inspected fan, acquiring coordinate information of a plurality of inspection points on the fan through image processing, and entering the step S4; and S4, according to the coordinate information of the inspection point, determining a cruise point coordinate and generating an autonomous cruise trajectory, the cruise point being a place where the unmanned aerial vehicle hovers and shoots, and the unmanned aerial vehicle completing inspection of the fan blade according to the autonomous cruise trajectory. According to the invention, the workload of autonomous inspection route generation can be effectively reduced, the accuracy of the route is improved, and the inspection efficiency of the fan is improved.