Narrative:

Climb out from iad with a step-up level off of 10;000. Auto throttles engaged but hand flying the aircraft. Lightweight aircraft. After receiving clearance from ATC; I dialed in 10;000 feet on the MCP; but failed to realize that upon reaching that altitude the auto throttles will push up the throttles to accelerate; not bring the throttles back as normal. Due to the aircraft being lightweight; the throttles increasing power rather than decreasing power; and lack of a faster instrument scan; I ballooned through the assigned altitude (approximately 550 feet). The aircraft was descended as quickly as possible. While recovering to 10;000 feet; the controller stated 'aircraft X; say altitude.' the aircraft was already descending through approximately 10;200 feet and leveling; and my response was 'leveling one zero thousand feet.' the controller responded 'roger'; but made no other comments. The rest of the flight was uneventful.lack of awareness of what the auto throttles would do on a level off at exactly 10;000 feet. Slow instrument scan. Some fatigue; after a 12 hour period; flying at night.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: B757 flight crew reported an overshoot on level off at 10000 feet with the autothrottle engaged and hand flying due to the power levers advancing to increase speed.

Narrative: Climb out from IAD with a step-up level off of 10;000. Auto throttles engaged but hand flying the aircraft. Lightweight aircraft. After receiving clearance from ATC; I dialed in 10;000 feet on the MCP; but failed to realize that upon reaching that altitude the auto throttles will push up the throttles to accelerate; not bring the throttles back as normal. Due to the aircraft being lightweight; the throttles increasing power rather than decreasing power; and lack of a faster instrument scan; I ballooned through the assigned altitude (approximately 550 feet). The aircraft was descended as quickly as possible. While recovering to 10;000 feet; the controller stated 'Aircraft X; say altitude.' The aircraft was already descending through approximately 10;200 feet and leveling; and my response was 'leveling one zero thousand feet.' The controller responded 'Roger'; but made no other comments. The rest of the flight was uneventful.Lack of awareness of what the auto throttles would do on a level off at exactly 10;000 feet. Slow instrument scan. Some fatigue; after a 12 hour period; flying at night.

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.