AN ASOS A02A WX RPT IS NOT BACKED UP BY OBSERVER AT RIC ARPT. ACR PIC COMPLAINT OF INACCURATE CEILING IN WX RPT.

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ARRIVED AT RIC AND WAS CLRED FOR THE VOR/DME APCH TO RWY 20. THE A02A WX AT XA05 WAS RPTED AS MARGINAL 13 MI BROKEN 25 MI OVCST 2 MI; RAIN AND FOG. WE MISSED THE APCH; STILL IN THE CLOUDS AT 512 FT AGL. THERE WERE SCATTERED CLOUDS BELOW US AS WE MADE THE MISSED APCH. THE TIME WAS ABOUT XA20Z. THIS AUTOMATIC WX IS WORSE THAN USELESS. WHOEVER WAS SUPPOSED TO AUGMENT THE AUTOMATED OBSERVATION WAS NOT VERY OBSERVANT. CALLBACK CONVERSATION WITH RPTR REVEALED THE FOLLOWING INFO: RPTR STATED THAT THE WX RPT HAD BEEN OBTAINED ON ACARS AND INCLUDED THE NOTATION; 'SA02' INDICATING THAT 'RIC' ARPT HAD THE AVAILABILITY OF A QUALIFIED WX OBSERVER TO MAKE ADDITIONS TO THE RPT IF NECESSARY. PIC DID NOT ASK THE TWR CTLR ABOUT THE VARIATION IN THE WX; CEILING RPTED AS THE FLT WAS ON A 'QUICK TURN.' ATC DID; HOWEVER; CHANGE THE APCHS TO AN ILS FROM A VOR APCH. RPTR'S COMPANY HAS A COPY OF RPT BUT THERE WAS NO FEEDBACK TO RPTR AS YET. THIS WAS THE FIRST 'NEGATIVE' EXPERIENCE RPTR HAS HAD WITH THE ASOS SYS.