  We examine the accuracy of a common technique for estimating the start time
of solar energetic particle injection based on a linear fit to the observed
onset time versus 1/(particle velocity). This is based on a concept that the
first arriving particles move directly along the magnetic field with no
scattering. We check this by performing numerical simulations of the transport
of solar protons between 2 and 2000 MeV from the Sun to the Earth, for several
assumptions regarding interplanetary scattering and the duration of particle
injection, and analyzing the results using the inverse velocity fit. We find
that in most cases, the onset times align close to a straight line as a
function of inverse velocity. Despite this, the estimated injection time can be
in error by several minutes. Also, the estimated path length can deviate
greatly from the actual path length along the interplanetary magnetic field.
The major difference between the estimated and actual path lengths implies that
the first arriving particles cannot be viewed as moving directly along the
interplanetary magnetic field.
