Narrative:

Flying in and out of pbg presents some challenges that other outstations don't experience. Pbg has an ASOS weather reporting system. The particular frequency is difficult to hear due to other airports broadcasting their weather on the same frequency. Approximately 70 miles away (well into the descent phase) is about the point you can decipher the weather at pbg. Another concern is the ability of the ASOS to distinguish between ice pellets/snow pellets/freezing rain/snow; etc. This distinction is critical to determine if we are even legally able to shoot an approach--ice pellets vs snow pellets; freezing drizzle vs moderate freezing rain etc. There is no control tower and you may be flying in the vicinity of GA aircraft with limited/no communication capability around the airport. I encourage flight crews not to cancel IFR flight plans while airborne for two reasons. 1) your IFR status prevents any IFR departures out of pbg; and 2) in the event you crash prior to landing; no one may know the aircraft's position inasmuch as we don't have elts on board.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A jet Captain provided advice regarding commercial flight operations into and out of non towered PBG.

Narrative: Flying in and out of PBG presents some challenges that other outstations don't experience. PBG has an ASOS weather reporting system. The particular frequency is difficult to hear due to other airports broadcasting their weather on the same frequency. Approximately 70 miles away (well into the descent phase) is about the point you can decipher the weather at PBG. Another concern is the ability of the ASOS to distinguish between ice pellets/snow pellets/freezing rain/snow; etc. This distinction is critical to determine if we are even legally able to shoot an approach--ice pellets vs snow pellets; freezing drizzle vs moderate freezing rain etc. There is no control tower and you may be flying in the vicinity of GA aircraft with limited/no communication capability around the airport. I encourage flight crews not to cancel IFR flight plans while airborne for two reasons. 1) Your IFR status prevents any IFR departures out of PBG; and 2) in the event you crash prior to landing; no one may know the aircraft's position inasmuch as we don't have ELTs on board.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.