A good pair of binoculars and an even better pair of earplugs might come in handy this week as the giant ships and the noisy jets return for Fleet Week in San Francisco.

The window-rattling Blue Angels will be flying for four straight afternoons, with practice flights Thursday and Friday and air show performances Saturday and Sunday.

The decibels began cranking up Monday afternoon, as the blue jets zipped over the Golden Gate Bridge, switched on their smoke machines and zoomed around the bay in their trademark triangle "delta" formation, touching down at 2:30 p.m. at San Francisco International Airport.

They landed on the same runway 15 seconds apart - instead of the usual two-minute separation required of commercial jets.