Narrative:

Second leg after launch from airport standby. Short return leg from ZZZ to ZZZ1. Basically empty jet (takeoff weight 223;000 pounds) with low level off for departure (3;000 feet MSL; 2300 feet AGL). We had discussed and decided to leave the power setting in climb 2 due to the low level off. At 1;000 feet AGL the PF called for VNAV. I pressed the VNAV button; but I believe the aircraft had already gone to altitude capture mode and did not take the VNAV selection - which I didn't immediately catch because I was busy raising the flaps as the jet was rapidly accelerating. The first officer commented that 'VNAV was doing something strange.' I looked at the MCP and fmas and saw that 128 KTS was the commanded speed and we were not in VNAV; however the autothrottles were trying to advance to climb power. The PF was hand-flying and over-riding the autothrottles. The momentary confusion and light aircraft weight caused us to miss our 3;000 foot level off. We ballooned to approximately 3;500 feet before getting back down to 3;000 feet. ZZZ tower never said anything to us and switched us to regional departure. They queried 'what happened back there?' I explained that we were light and had some issues with our automation. No further inquiries were made.abnormally low level off with a very light jet.I should have done a better job of monitoring the fmas when I initially pressed the VNAV button. This would've helped me be a better pm and point out what was happening earlier. I also don't think I was quite mentally prepared for how low the level off was and how much excess performance the jet would have at our light weight. I think this was partially due to inexperience with this scenario and also just being a bit rusty (flown 1 time in the previous 3 weeks due to vacation).

Related reports:

Google
 

Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Air carrier Captain reported the aircraft was very light weight. The pilots were unprepared for the quick low altitude level off and deviated from the clearance.

Narrative: Second leg after launch from airport standby. Short return leg from ZZZ to ZZZ1. Basically empty jet (takeoff weight 223;000 LBS) with low level off for departure (3;000 feet MSL; 2300 feet AGL). We had discussed and decided to leave the power setting in Climb 2 due to the low level off. At 1;000 feet AGL the PF called for VNAV. I pressed the VNAV button; but I believe the aircraft had already gone to altitude capture mode and did not take the VNAV selection - which I didn't immediately catch because I was busy raising the flaps as the jet was rapidly accelerating. The FO commented that 'VNAV was doing something strange.' I looked at the MCP and FMAs and saw that 128 KTS was the commanded speed and we were not in VNAV; however the autothrottles were trying to advance to climb power. The PF was hand-flying and over-riding the autothrottles. The momentary confusion and light aircraft weight caused us to miss our 3;000 foot level off. We ballooned to approximately 3;500 feet before getting back down to 3;000 feet. ZZZ Tower never said anything to us and switched us to Regional Departure. They queried 'what happened back there?' I explained that we were light and had some issues with our automation. No further inquiries were made.Abnormally low level off with a very light jet.I should have done a better job of monitoring the FMAs when I initially pressed the VNAV button. This would've helped me be a better PM and point out what was happening earlier. I also don't think I was quite mentally prepared for how low the level off was and how much excess performance the jet would have at our light weight. I think this was partially due to inexperience with this scenario and also just being a bit rusty (flown 1 time in the previous 3 weeks due to vacation).

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.