Nope, i don't think you are doing anything wrong. All those things have happened to me.

What you may want to try to get about that force field is think of something to shout that can bring you higher up in the air.

I remember I ALWAYS had this problem, then one day I decided to shout: "FLY HIGHER!" or "ONE STEP HIGHER" to bring me up more in the air. That is how I was able to get in orbit above the earth to do the advanced LD task. Normally I couldn't get more than a few thousand feet in the air. Yelling things seems to really work well for me. Give it a shot, i bet it will work for you too!