Pilot reported attempting to land at bih after he listened to the ASOS. Pilot observed an 'X' on the...

Attributes
ACN	1286260
Time
Date	201508
Local Time Of Day	1201-1800
Place
Locale Reference	BIH.Airport
State Reference	CA
Environment
Flight Conditions	VMC
Light	Daylight
Aircraft 1
Make Model Name	Small Aircraft Low Wing 1 Eng Retractable Gear
Operating Under FAR Part	Part 91
Flight Phase	Landing
Route In Use	Visual Approach
Flight Plan	None
Person 1
Function	Single Pilot
Qualification	Flight Crew Instrument Flight Crew Private
Experience	Flight Crew Last 90 Days 25 Flight Crew Total 2500 Flight Crew Type 2200
Events
Anomaly	Deviation - Procedural FAR Deviation - Procedural Published Material / Policy Inflight Event / Encounter Other / Unknown

Narrative:

VFR flight to bih. I was complacent and did not check NOTAMS beforehand. Near bih I received ASOS information: clear / calm winds / nothing unusual.I did a practice approach to runway 12. Near the threshold I noticed trucks on the runway; after that I saw a fairly lame 'X' on the runway. I went around and landed runway 34.I asked the airport operator what was going on and why there was no information on ASOS. I was told the runway was closed for maintenance and notams were issued. Then I was told that ASOS is owned by NOAA and the airport operator has no power to add information regarding local notams; i.e. Possible closed runways. The inability of an airport operator to add information to an ASOS report loses a potential major enhancement to the overall safety in aviation. I am puzzled why this situation could ever have developed.

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Pilot reported attempting to land at BIH after he listened to the ASOS. Pilot observed an 'X' on the runway and wondered why the runway closure was not on the ASOS. Pilot had not checked NOTAMs before departing for the destination.

Narrative: VFR flight to BIH. I was complacent and did not check NOTAMS beforehand. Near BIH I received ASOS information: Clear / Calm winds / Nothing unusual.I did a practice approach to runway 12. Near the threshold I noticed trucks on the runway; after that I saw a fairly lame 'X' on the runway. I went around and landed runway 34.I asked the airport operator what was going on and why there was no information on ASOS. I was told the runway was closed for maintenance and NOTAMs were issued. Then I was told that ASOS is owned by NOAA and the airport operator has no power to add information regarding local NOTAMs; i.e. possible closed runways. The inability of an airport operator to add information to an ASOS report loses a potential major enhancement to the overall safety in aviation. I am puzzled why this situation could ever have developed.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.

Pilot reported attempting to land at bih after he listened to the ASOS. Pilot observed an 'X' on the runway and wondered why the runway closure was not on the ASOS. Pilot had not checked notams before departing for the destination.