Various kinds of pilot burners were experimentally investigated to examine the effects of their geometry and their location relative to the main burner of a real size combustor. In addition, a wide range of fuel equivalence ratios were investigated to analyze the feasibility of the novel pilot burner for the conventional burner application. From the results, it is shown that the novel pilot burner with multi air holes had a thin, straight, long and stable pilot flame, while the conventional pilot burner had a thick, lifted, short and unstable flame. It is also shown that the novel pilot burner with an upper air flow hole had a straight pilot flame which led to less thermal damage to the burner combustor. This study suggests that not only pilot burner flame shape but also the vertical location of the pilot burner from the main burner combustor has a significant effect on combustor durability.