Disk drive adjusting fly height actuator to compensate for laser induced head protrusion in heat assisted magnetic recording

A disk drive is disclosed comprising a head actuated over a disk, wherein the head comprises a laser operable to heat the disk while writing data to the disk, and a fly height actuator (FHA) operable to adjust a fly height of the head over the disk. When a write command is received to write data to a target data track, the head is positioned over the target data track. When the head approaches a target data sector of the target data track, a power applied to the FHA is increased to decrease the fly height of the head. When the head reaches the target data sector, a power applied to the laser is increased to heat the disk, and the power applied to the FHA is decreased substantially monotonically while writing data to the target data sector.