FWIW, nearest neighbors are 300M, nearest neighbors with horses 400M, second nearest neighbors with horses 500M. So call it 6 or 7 acres away, not 20. On the approach I do try to vary my flight paths so as to spread the love, as there are homes all around, but there are really only two good ways in and out so short final is always one or the other, depending on the wind. But perhaps the saving grace for me is that a busy two lane road that has frequent loud truck (lorry) and loud motorcycle traffic goes right through the neighborhood. And we are right on a bend in the road so the trucks are using their Jake brakes, too. Hence something with the noise footprint of an R44 is merely an annoying insect (OK, have at it haters, I've opened the door for you with that one
) compared to the road traffic. The few EC130 landings I've had on the property generated a much more significant noise footprint, but those have been rare and no neighbors seemed to notice when I explicitly asked them about it.
It was one of the reasons I chose this place to live. I left suburbia so that I would have this capability. That said, it was not unheard of for folks to be landing in yards in my prior town, and it was not and still is not illegal there.
Perhaps more relevant to the Hawaii situation: we live near a major lake. The lakeshore is dotted alternately with mini-mansions, mega-mansions, and what I jokingly refer to as "gold-plated shacks", the latter being very ramshackle in nature but worth ridiculous amounts of money because they are right on the water. With all that money involved there are more than a couple of folks operating helicopters in and out of their shoreline property. It could not be safer, with approaches and departures being over water and aimed at their own homes. Operations are typically infrequent, as one would expect. And yet the vitriolic dialogue of some neighbors is truly outstanding. "It's not safe, and it's noisy." These are, of course, the same neighbors that generate continuous noise by running their PWCs up and down the shoreline all damn day long. They are just jealous, ignorant haters. So jealous that they cannot be bought off by being invited on free helicopter rides. So jealous that they don't realize that their 40ft (13M) offshore racing boat that's a bit much for the lake is probably worth just about what that R44 is. It's a sad state of affairs when people are like this.