Misato (OFF - radio):“"The pilot's safety is the top priority."”
Reichu: Ah, the recovery squad… The mysterious department who works behind the scenes to make sure the Evas are always back in their Cages after a big battle scene!
There are some major technical problems with this scene regarding the cockpit visuals. (Maybe that's why Sadamoto didn't include it in the manga?) In this particular cut, the facial piece (which I would suspect contains the cameras that I mentioned back in Scene 1) becomes disconnected from the rest of the helmet, so shouldn't the screens have become immediately filled with noise?
