Narrative:

We approached the field from the northwest for landing ILS Z 18R. We were cleared down to 8;000 ft MSL and told to intercept localizer. The winds at that altitude were out of the north at about 60 KTS. This strong tailwind; although decreasing slowly as we descended; made it very difficult to make our descent and capture the glideslope. We had to ask for lower from the controller and we were given a frequency change to do so on final. That controller then cleared us for the approach. At this point we were above the glidepath and trying to descend to capture it. At about 3;900 ft MSL (about 2;000 ft AGL) the captain (pilot flying) elected to go-around. Due to our altitude he elected to initially go-around using vertical speed to climb to the 5;000 ft missed approach altitude. At some point during the go-around I believe he selected open climb. At about this time I picked up the PA and began to make a brief announcement. During the announcement I heard the altitude alert warning and I discontinued the PA. It was then I observed our climbing through about 5;500 ft and we topped out at about 5;800 ft before returning to 5;000 ft on the missed approach. The controllers never made any mention about our altitude.the decision to go-around was a good one. The execution of the go-around was somewhat out of our normal go-around toga routine due to our higher than normal altitude at initiation. I believe this; along with the relative newness of the captain to the A330 resulted in automation inputs that somehow led to the autopilot disconnecting. By the time the pilot flying realized the autopilot had disconnected our pitch was such that we went through our missed approach altitude.as the observer seat pilot; in hindsight; I would not have been so quick to make the PA announcement to the cabin explaining our go-around and plans to return to the field. This brief amount of time out of the loop kept me from being another set of eyes that maybe could have contributed to capturing the altitude. Additionally; it is usually better to stick with the go-around toga routine on most go-arounds so that our normal habit patterns kick in and the technology works more in our favor during a missed approach.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: An A330 flight crew being vectored to the north to land south and LEMD found themselves high and fast due to terrain and significant tail winds. When they initiated a go-around the autopilot disconnected and they climbed through the MAP altitude.

Narrative: We approached the field from the northwest for landing ILS Z 18R. We were cleared down to 8;000 FT MSL and told to intercept LOC. The winds at that altitude were out of the north at about 60 KTS. This strong tailwind; although decreasing slowly as we descended; made it very difficult to make our descent and capture the glideslope. We had to ask for lower from the Controller and we were given a frequency change to do so on final. That Controller then cleared us for the approach. At this point we were above the glidepath and trying to descend to capture it. At about 3;900 FT MSL (about 2;000 FT AGL) the Captain (pilot flying) elected to go-around. Due to our altitude he elected to initially go-around using vertical speed to climb to the 5;000 FT missed approach altitude. At some point during the go-around I believe he selected open climb. At about this time I picked up the PA and began to make a brief announcement. During the announcement I heard the altitude alert warning and I discontinued the PA. It was then I observed our climbing through about 5;500 FT and we topped out at about 5;800 FT before returning to 5;000 FT on the missed approach. The controllers never made any mention about our altitude.The decision to go-around was a good one. The execution of the go-around was somewhat out of our normal go-around TOGA routine due to our higher than normal altitude at initiation. I believe this; along with the relative newness of the Captain to the A330 resulted in automation inputs that somehow led to the autopilot disconnecting. By the time the pilot flying realized the autopilot had disconnected our pitch was such that we went through our missed approach altitude.As the observer seat pilot; in hindsight; I would not have been so quick to make the PA announcement to the cabin explaining our go-around and plans to return to the field. This brief amount of time out of the loop kept me from being another set of eyes that maybe could have contributed to capturing the altitude. Additionally; it is usually better to stick with the go-around TOGA routine on most go-arounds so that our normal habit patterns kick in and the technology works more in our favor during a missed approach.

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.