L and L,
Most of the helo pilots and particularly the operators I know take noise abatement very seriously. You are new to these forums and I am sure that you will not be aquainted with the members, most of whom have a wicked and funny sense of humour. I am surprised that you do not seem to have picked up that even from this thread.
To have called most of the posters..."childish and selfish"...perhaps isnt the way to start off your first post if you want to be treated seriously.
I am sure your nice part of Surrey does suffer from noise pollution and operators will take any REASONABLE precautions to try to alleviate your issues. Having said that to place the helicopters in the same category as motorbikes and toy helicopters weakens your position somewhat.
As I am sure you are aware you have a few extremists amongst you which causes the "sense of humour" factor to come out amongst us. That said I am certainly willing to read to your issues as I am sure sensible dialogue between us would at least give you a sense of the professionalism that is absolutely present in the helicopter pilot community.
I am also sure that if you understood why some of these helicopters were airborne it would assist in balancing off your few minutes of noise against the needs of others. For instance some of the police forces will post why their air support helos were up at "4am" on their websites to help the public understand why they were woken up and it wont have been because they were making a run to their local chippie.
Expect a few wind-ups too....but thats what makes these forums fun!!
Oh....I live on a arrival and departure route of a major airport and do regularly hear traffic including during the night. I chose to live here...and whenever I hear a medium / large helicopter thumping over my home....I consider it the sound of safety and freedom!
IC