Commercial Fixed Wing
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness
Deviation - Altitude Overshoot; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence; Inflight Event / Encounter Unstabilized Approach
Flight Crew Returned To Clearance; Flight Crew Became Reoriented
Environment - Non Weather Related; Weather; Procedure; Human Factors
On approach following three hour redeye. Visual backed up by ILS. Winds 270/25G47. Expected strong winds due to forecast but only 30 degrees off nose so went Flaps 3/MED AB and bumped up Vapp for landing. Approach fine till below 1;000 feet. Turbulence got extremely rough as gusts were pounding the aircraft on descent. AP doing its job but [I was] guarding controls. Somewhere between 200 and 500 feet (not really sure) a gust of wind literally lifted the left wing to almost a 45 degree roll right. It happened so fast and so abruptly AP never kicked off. I turned off AP and immediately counter banked back toward runway and level attitude. As I was doing that another gust pushed us right again and down. Never experienced anything like this in a jet. Executed Go-Around immediately upon second recovery. We are so light these days that Vapp is 119/120/121...ridiculously low speeds. At TOGA power; the aircraft climbed like a rocket. I was so busy working nose attitude to prevent flap overspeed and battling continued gusts that I overshot MAP altitude badly. After settling down and correcting back to MAP altitude; we set up and executed another approach. This time; despite gusts and crosswind; I was able to put the aircraft on the runway and conclude the flight. To say I was rattled would be an understatement. I am concerned that we are flying these aircraft too light. I understand the virus and crisis; too few passengers and baggage; but under certain conditions (like mine) I feel that aircraft was too light for what it encountered. If we are going to destination with high crosswinds/gusts forecast we need to put more fuel on board; I understand that costs money but it is the only ballast we can add to the aircraft at this time for increased weight. I might be totally off base but if that gust had been stronger; or if the crosswind more to the left; I really don't want to think about what might have happened. I feel this issue should be addressed/highlighted. Also; the fact that it happens after a redeye when you've been up all night and are not 100% further compounds the issue. The aircraft is a handful at TOGA and such light weights. Added vigilance is a must.  We are operating at low weights due to pandemic and low passenger counts; lower than ever before. It is still within legal limits obviously but I feel my situation shows how combination of environment both for pilot and aircraft; and these lower weights warrants highlighting extra vigilance when encountering this combination of factors.
On final approach below 500 feet AGL; encountered a wind gust that caused an unstable approach so we initiated a go around. After completing go around actions; I advised Tower that we were going around. They instructed us to maintain 3;000 feet and runway heading and to contact Departure. This call was made at about 2;000 feet. We were in go around pitch and TOGA power combined with the light weight of the aircraft [which] caused a high rate of climb; so the 1;000 feet from the instruction to the level off point happened very quickly. I advised the pilot flying that we were already passing 3;000 feet and had to level off. The pilot flying acknowledged and returned to the assigned altitude of 3;000 feet. Maximum deviation was 700 feet high. I then contacted Departure and told them we were leveling back at 3;000 feet.Keep in mind performance considerations on go-arounds and realize that certain performance factors and situations can alter the usual go-around time frame.
Air carrier flight crew reported overshooting a charted altitude during a go-around. The Captain stated the very low aircraft weight associated with the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an abnormally high climb rate.