I was a passenger on this flight, from ABE to ORD.

To give you some background, the inbound flight from Chicago had been diverted to Detroit due to a medical emergency. This caused the inbound flight to be late in arriving into ABE and, naturally, resulted in a late departure for our flight to ORD.

Before we left the gate, the pilot came out into the cabin and, using the intercom mic, told the passengers what had caused the delay and mentioned the amount of paperwork that diversion had required. He apologized for the delay.

By the time we pushed back from the gate, it was about 7:15pm (Eastern) and getting dark.

Whether or not the pilot could see all the way down the runway, I don't know. I commend him for the actions he took to avoid hitting the other aircraft. And i'm happy I'm here to relate this story.