In this study, a numerical simulation was developed which was capable of predicting the characteristics of NO formation in pilot scale combustor adopting the air-staged burner flame. The numerical calculation was constructed by means of establishing the mathematical models fur turbulence, turbulent combustion, radiation and turbulent nitric oxide chemistry. Turbulence was solved with standard k-$xi$ model and the turbulent combustion model was incorporated using a two step reaction scheme together with an eddy dissipation model. The radiative transfer equation was calculated by means of the discrete ordinates method with the weighted sum of gray gases model for CO$_2$and H$_2$O. In the NO chemistry model, the chemical reaction rates for thermal and prompt NO were statistically averaged using the $eta$ probability density function. The results were validated by comparison with measurements. For the experiment, a 0.2 MW pilot multi-air staged burner has been designed and fabricated. Only when the radiation was taken into account, the predicted gas temperature was in good agreement with the experimental one, which meant that the inclusion of radiation was indispensable for modeling multi-air staged gas flame. This was also true of the prediction of the NO formation, since it heavily depended on temperature. Subsequently, it was found that the multi-air staged combustion technique might be used as a practical tool in reducing the NO formation by controlling the peak flame temperature.